Samaritans
by lastwriterofdreams
Summary: Sequel to Human Tutor. With Yellow Diamond preparing her sector for attacking Earth, Steven and the Crystal Gems have to join forces with Thean's organization known as the Samaritans. Who exactly are they? How much do they know about Gems? What desperate measures will be taken to halt the wrath of Homeworld? Read, find out, Review.
1. Chapter 1

In the dark of the night, a van was making its way through certain parts of the Beach City. Mayor Dewey was driving said van, and everyone else was in the back. The seats were pressed against the side of the inside, so the passengers faced each other when they sat down. On one side, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were sitting, in front of them were Thean and Steven. Mayor Dewey looked at the rearview mirror to check up on everyone else, and it seemed like the tension would have suffocated them all if the silence remained.

"So I suppose, you all want to know where it is we're going." He more or less asked them to ask him. He laughed nervously. It remained silent.  
"Are we going to your house?" Steven asked, not wanting the silence to continue.  
"Not exactly. You see, I have several homes, but one in particular has the...'atmosphere' for me and Thean to explain to you guys about what all of this is." Bill explained, he chuckled nervously. "So my home, yes." He cleared his throat and got serious for a second. "Look, I know we may not look like much, heck I don't look like much, but trust me when I say that you will need us." He said as he kept his eyes on the road.

It was quiet for another moment, until Pearl gasped as she realized something.  
"You got me that white rose!" She said, thinking back to the first time they met Thean, he gave her a pearly white rose from his client.  
"Oh yes, I've been meaning to ask you about that, what did you think about it?" Bill asked, hoping for her to say she liked it. He had put a lot of effort into growing out that rose from his garden. Although he was a political figure, he also had other private hobbies, one of which was gardening.  
"You gave me a dead plant to keep, what do you think I did with it?" She responded rather hurtful. Pearl didn't like the idea of someone giving her a rose, especially one of her color. It just seemed ironically cruel, considering how she felt about Rose and how Rose felt about her. Bill's smile fell at Pearl's response.  
"Well it's mostly the effort one puts into giving something to someone else." He tried to explain.  
"So you grew something out to kill it and give it to me." She retorted. This threw off Bill for a second, and caused him to stutter.  
"Well, you see, I-" He tried to explain himself until Thean interrupted him.  
"Bill, let it go. We're almost there." Thean said. Bill double-checked his surroundings. And sure enough, they were coming in close to what seemed like a small mansion. Mayor Dewey parked just outside.  
"Oh, thanks Thean for keepin an eye out." Bill said as he unbuckled his seatbelt as everyone else did too.  
"No problem." Thean said, not caring about the eye pun he made just now.

As Mayor Dewey got out from his side, he walked to the back of the van and opened it from behind. Everyone got out, and Bill guided them to the front of the estate.  
The front doors were a beautiful, brown-red wooden color with several designs above it, the door knobs were of a silver like metal. However, it wasn't opened the traditional way of grabbing the knob, but instead, Bill talked into his wrist watch.  
"Dewey Estate 04: Emergency: Milkhama." He said, almost sounding rehearsed, and the doors to the estate opened. "Please come in." He gestured nicely.  
"Woah!" Steven said in astonishment at how big it wasbon the inside. The walls were a spotless white, with several paintings hanging, there was a living room with fine leather couches. Overall, it was very luxurious.  
"I see you like the facade of this home, but we have to go in deeper." Bill said as he began to walk down a hallway, allowing everyone to follow him. They got to a heavy metal door, to which Bill opened with a key. "Can't be too careful." He said. Upon opening, there was a dark staircase leading to a room with four giant monitors against the wall a round table behind it. "Please sit." He obliged them.  
All the Gems sat down on either sides of the table.

"Ok, we've been patient enough, now tell us what is going on." Garnet demanded.  
Thean and Bill sat down on opposite sides facing Steven and the Gems.  
"What do you want to know?" Bill asked.  
"For starters, who are you? As in who have you been this whole time?" She asked.  
"I am Thean's employer for this mission. A majority of the things he needed, I funded for him, although some of his equipment he already had." He answered.  
"But who are you?" Garnet repeated, with a much more specific intent. This time, Thean decided it was his turn to explain.  
"We are part of an organization called the Samaritans. We are special group of people who take part in multiple world affairs in secret and bring what we personally believe is justice." Thean stood up and moved to one of the monitors and brought up a diagram of the world with red marks throughout it. "We have many operatives throughout every country on earth based on population, corruption, and economy." Thean explained. "We have access to class 5 weapons for all able operatives and those who lack skills in the field," he said mentioning toward Dewey. "are often given positions of organization to both the privacy of the organization and can act as a political facade to the general public." He finished. "Anything else?" He asked.  
"How did you know about us?" Amethyst pointed out. "You seemed to have known a lot about us when we first met, and you said that the information came from your employer." She pointed at Bill. Everyone was impressed by Amethyst's questioning and memory. Usually she just stayed quiet. Both Bill and Thean had a look of worry, as if they were hoping that question wouldn't come up. Bill stood up.

"We know just about everything." He said, almost regretfully. It was his turn to use the keyboards in front of the monitors. He typed in something on all of them began to show videos of the battles they had, only, each monitor showed a different perspective.  
Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven were confused for a few seconds until they realized that it was them talking, and it was their memories of the fights. Then all of them changed to everyone going their separate ways in the temple. All of their rooms were on video.  
"How is this possible?" Pearl asked in shock. They all turned to Dewey. He sighed in defeat.  
"I...I have been spying on all of you. We've used these little machines we call Spider Bytes." He said as he pulled put a tiny electronic, four legged spider with a lens. "They were designed to cling to and hide in your hair. I have been doing this for the past couple of years now. Actually around the time I was selected to investigate Beach City by my superiors and serve as 'Mayor'. I only started doing this since Steven began live with you guys." He said, but then Pearl stood up and slammed her fist on the table and cracked it.

"What gives you the right to look into our lives?!" She asked, obviously angered at such actions, but to everyone's surprise, Bill didn't back down.  
"The right to secure the safety of every citizen in this city! Do you have any idea of the potential danger you all are to humans? You can live forever, regenerate, break stone with your bare hands, teleport, even shape shift! Do not tell me that we don't have the right to be scared and take extreme measures." He paused. Pearl, as far as she thought him to be a nervous wreck, didn't expect him to raise his voice, especially towards her. Bill calmed down. "We couldn't bare to risk you turning against us, and direct confrontation was not an option. So we just had to check what you did on a regular basis and learn from you. We hardly know anything about you. And what we do, is only bad things." He said.

"What do you mean?" Steven asked. Thean decided to speak up this time.  
"That is something our Superiors need to explain to you. Just know that our organization is very, very old." He said. There was a pause.  
Garnet was looking steadily at the monitor that was in her point of view. She then turned to Bill.  
"How much have you seen?" She asked with a menacing tone. Bill gulped, but answered her question nonetheless.  
"A lot, including Ruby and Sapphire." He said. Garnets visibly gritted her teeth as she made her way, threateningly, to Bill.  
"Garnet! Don't!" Pearl tried to stop her, only to move out of her way, in fear, as soon as she approached her. Amethyst and Steven had worried looks on their faces.

Garnet summoned her left gauntlet as she was nearing Bill. Bill was walking backwards against one of the walls in fear.  
Just as she raised her fist, Thean stepped in between both of them, his pistol and sword at the ready. Everyone's heart sank.  
"Garnet, stop!" He said urged her. "I know you're angry, but I can't let you hurt him. What he did, he did for a reason. Not with bad intentions." He warned. They both stared each other down, Thean having to look up at the fusion. "Don't do it." He warned a final time.


	2. Chapter 2

_"Don't do it." He warned a final time._

The room was silent for what seemed like minutes. Nobody dared to even breath to make a sound. A confrontation between Garnet and Thean was too...thought provoking to even imagine. They all just waited, sweating in anxiety at whatever would transpire.

Garnet lowered her left fist, but her angry look was still there. Thean refused to let his guard down, especially with Garnet involved. She looked past Thean to Bill.  
"How many have seen it." She asked him with a calm, yet ominous demeanor. Bill calmed a bit down as this was a question with an easy answer.  
"Me and Thean are the only ones. I had to let him see the footage of what he needed to expect from all of you. Nobody outside this room knows." He answered honestly. Garnet settled down, but she was still frowning.

"I want you to promise that this will be destroyed. Every bit of it." She demanded. Bill began to stutter.  
"Garnet I can't do that, we need this information for the helps we're going to get." He tried to explain it to her. "What we know about you can help us against the other Gems." He said. Garnet was about to yell at him, when Thean spoke up.  
"Bill, just destroy the segments of Ruby and Sapphire, they can learn about fusion from Opal and Alexandrite. They don't need to know about Garnet." He said, trying to come up with a solution that benefited everyone. Bill hesitated.  
"Fine, her footage was 'destroyed' in the Gem ship." He said. "Anything else you need?" He asked Garnet.  
"The Spider Bytes." Pearl mentioned. "You get rid of them and promise to never use them again." She demanded.  
"Done." Thean said much to Dewey's surprise. Thean turned to him. "If we want them to trust us it has to be on their terms." He said. Dewey sighed and then pressed a button on his wrist watch. Suddenly, little devices jumped out of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven's hair and onto the table. The Crystal Gems were appalled.  
"You had them this whole time?" Amethyst asked incredulously.  
"Yes. We had two for each of you. They needed to recharge every twelve hours so we switched them up. Once one almost runs the others go looking for you, mostly at night." Bill explained.  
"Why you little-" Amethyst began.  
"Hey, we already have them off of you, I have the other four." He said as he pulled out the Spider Bytes from one of his pockets. "He gave me one set when I moved into town. But it's done. We don't need them anymore." He said as he destroyed them and took the one's from Bill's hand and did the same thing. Thean calmed down. Garnet walked back to where the rest of the Gems were standing.  
"Now, let's talk strategy." She said. Bill stepped up.

"From the footage we saw of the message Lapis sent and the time it took for Homeworld to get here, two days, we have to assume the worst. However," Bill typed in something one of the keyboards and footage of what happened a few hours ago came up on the monitor. "According to Emerald:  
'We will be back, and we will reconquer this planet!' We could mean she is bringing an army. Her and Peridot's ship were most likely scouting ships so it would make sense they got here faster. However, if they are thinking of bringing in an army we can assume that their travel time could be at the very least an entire week maybe less, but it would take them a long time to organize troops if they work anything like we think they do." He finished explaining. "We will use that time to prepare." He said.  
"That's all really well-thought out, but what about an army of our own?" Pearl asked, getting to a point. "Back when we fought Homeworld, their numbers reached in the thousands." She exclaimed.  
"We have enough operatives in our organization, prepared to fight. We just have to call them and wait for them to come." He told her.  
"I already sent them the message." Bill said as a beeping could be heard from his wrist watch. Bill looked at it.  
"But how can you even think about fighting back if the last time the Earth was attacked by Gems you were all under control." Pearl informed. "As much as we appreciate the help, what can humans do against Gems?" She asked, worried about them losing. Thean looked at her as he sat down and put his feet on the table.  
"Well for one, our technology has changed since then. Maybe not as advanced as Homeworld's, but enough to pack a punch. Second, just like you, they're very likely to underestimate us. And third," Thean took a second to lean back. "we've been working on a plan in case of _another_ invasion." He finished. Bill received a message from his wrist watch.

"Ok, we will be receiving two-thousand Samaritans in three days. They will be bringing the necessary equipment to defend Beach City." He said. This surprised the Gems in how many were going to participate in their fight just like that. Just how organized were these Samaritans?  
"What about everyone else? The Pizzas, the Frymens, Lars and Sadie? They're gonna evacuate like last time, right?" Steven asked thinking about everyone else.  
"For now, we need them here. Beach City still has to function as an attraction site for 'tourists'. When the time comes, we will personally evacuate the citizens a few days before the battle. Besides, it's a rarity that our operatives get to have fun, so let them enjoy themselves in Beach City and everything it has to offer." Bill said.  
"Is that it?" Garnet asked. "What about us? Where do we fit in all this?" She asked.  
"Oh, you're going to help out too. But for the next three days, we just gotta wait." Thean said. "And do not tell anyone about this, this needs to be classified." He said. Steven seemed hesitant. He wasn't sure how he felt about keeping Connie out of this. On one hand he didn't want to put her in danger, but on the other, he didn't want to keep the truth from like last time Homeworld came. "Steven, are we clear?" Thean asked, causing Steven to snap out of it.  
"Oh, sure." Steven said automatically, barely hearing the question.  
"Then it's settled then." Garnet said. "The Crystal Gems and the Samaritans shall fight together to protect Beach City." She crossed her arms. "In the meantime, we have to get back to the temple." She hinted at Bill. Bill suddenly got the meaning of her words.  
"Oh yes, it is my responsibility to escort us all back to the Beach." He chuckled nervously.  
"Fine then." Pearl said.  
"Can we get some sleep then?" Amethyst asked.

* * *

 _Homeworld: Yellow Diamond's Tower_

"But my liege, your sisters have forbidden you to attack without their consent. And they made it very clear that the Earth is not a planet worth having." Emerald exclaimed in clam urgency. Yellow Diamond turned to her.  
"Am I not of part of the Diamond Authority?" She asked sarcastically. Emerald refused to answer. "Because I will have you know that my sisters are still licking their wounds from the last time they faced Rose Quartz. But not me. Without their precious leader, the Crystal Gems will fall." She said, obsessed with the idea of killing the remainder of the rebellion.  
"But without the consent of your sisters, you won't be allowed to bring an army with you." She pointed out. Yellow Diamond contemplated before walking to a balcony, Emerald following behind.  
"Ah, but my subjects don't need to know that." She said as she gestured down below. Emerald looked down and was shocked to see an entire army of Gems down below. All gems lined up in different colors, each bearing their weapons. The entire slew looking very disciplined and waiting their orders. Behind them was what appeared to be a giant mechanized woman, with many arms, two of which were missing hands. Similar to the rock formation of the temple. "It is amazing how you can control the populace and guards with _fear_." She said as she looked down at the army.

"My fellow subjects. I love planets." She began. "Nay, I love controlling them. I love to invade them. I love to cast aside its inhabitants to the side, and take their resources. To break down the will of those with organized societies who try to defend themselves and to exterminate them." She paused. "I love it when we enslave whatever competent races we can, and force them to build more kindergartens on their own planet, only to suck up the life of it and when it's done leave them to die out. I love expanding the rule of the Homeworld onto other planets and make them know just how powerful our armies are." She paused as a loud roar of appeal came from those down below. Emerald knew it was mostly of fear for their queen, than respect for her ideology. "My subjects, let them experience the full wrath of immortals as ourselves." She said with a malicious, sadistic tone. The entire force was in excitement. Some who relished to conquer and fight, whilst others were too afraid of their monarch to even speak out or even act indifferently to their master. "Let's go to war!" Yellow Diamond commanded as she gestured them all to board the ship. Yellow Diamond grinned at how they all fell in line.

"A total of one-thousand Gems are being disposed into Earth. Are you positive that your actions won't have negative reactions from your sisters?" Emerald asked stoically.  
"My sisters will envy me to find out that I have succeeded their failure." She responded. "With one-thousand soldiers, and with our technology, the Earth does not stand a chance." She said. "One of our soldiers is easily that of a million of theirs. This time, the Earth will be ours." She said as her and Emerald warped to ground level and made their way to the ship.


	3. Chapter 3

Day 1: Motivations and Decisions

The day was as normal as Beach City could get. The sun was up and shone as bright as it could. The wind kept everyone cool, especially from the sun's heat. Everyone was going about their day. Among the few amount of people walking around town were Steven and Thean. Who were running errands, each carrying several grocery and shopping bags. Steven carrying the much heavier bags, as Thean thought it would be a good opportunity for him to exercise while walking.

"So when the Samaritans come, are they going to declare martian law?" Steven asked as he looked around and wondered about everyone's safety.  
"It's called Martial Law. And no, we're not like that. In cases like these we can't afford to put the public in a state of panic. So when we get word of things that might go bad, we arrive before it happens and blend in with the locals as best we can." Thean explained it to him. "We put everyone else's safety above our own, as well as look out for each other when it hits the fan." Thean finished.  
"When what hits the fan?" Steven asked innocently. Thean struggled to find an explanation.  
"Just it...sometimes it just hits the fan." Thean said as best he could. Steven just decided to accept it.

"So what does it take to be a Samaritan?" He asked, expecting to hear an epic description of the toughest of people. Thean chuckled.  
"Well for one, you don't apply. You're recruited into the organization." Thean informed him.  
"Oh, so then, what do they look for in you guys?" He asked, hoping to see if he qualified.  
"Well, for one. You can't be close to anyone before us. You must have had a rough upbringing to make you strong. You need to experience loss before you can experience the gains of the organization. They're usually on the lookout for people like us, because it builds us up from what little we have." Thean said as he continued walking. Steven was looking up at him. Clearly, this organization did not mess around when it came to its members.  
"So the only people they're close to is each other?" He asked. Thean shrugged.  
"Not exactly. First and foremost. Our priority is to those who need our help." Thean said. They were approaching the temple, then Steven asked.  
"So how many of your are there?" Steven wondered out loud. Thean chuckled.  
"Enough." Thean smirked.

They both were nearing the temple and and began walking up the stairs.  
"Why are" Steven began. "these bags heavier when walking up the stairs?" He complained. Thean chuckled.  
"You know that it makes you stronger right? The exercise." He told Steven.  
"Yeah, but the cramps..." He complained comically. Thean laughed.  
"Well, think about it this way. At this rate, you'll have muscles to impress Connie." He suggested to Steven, who blushed.  
"Really? I mean, why would I want to impress her..."Steven struggled to find the words to talk. But now that Connie was inside his head, it was difficult for him to concentrate. But with the sudden thought of her cheering him on, Steven's body burst with strength and he climbed the last few steps quickly and onto the balcony, each grocery bag still intact.

"Congrats Steven. You managed to walk up the last four steps." Thean joked. "So apparently Connie is you motivation, huh? Who knew." Thean walked past Steven and made his way toward the door, opening it for Steven. "C'mon, you're almost there. Just passed this door and into the kitchen." Thean encouraged him. Steven with the last bit of energy he had, made his way to the door, past it and into the kitchen where he collapsed. He groaned.  
The rest of the Crystal Gems sat on the couch away from the kitchen, but saw what happened. Pearl was the first one to speak.  
"Hey there boys." She said sweetly. Mostly towards Steven, though.  
""I don't get why he has to exercise," Amethyst said boringly. "He'll get all he'll need from his gem." She said twirling her hair. Garnet looked at her.  
"He is half-human so he needs to look out after his body." She reminded her. Amethyst just huffed.  
"Oh and wait till you guys hear what his motivation is..." Thean teased.  
"What?" They all asked.  
"Nooooo..." Steven groaned as he was still on the floor.  
"Steven what is it?" Pearl asked, concerned for him.  
"He's just cramping." Thean pointed out.  
"It hurts so much." He groaned dramatically. Thean chuckled.  
"You'll grow into it eventually." He convinced him. Thean thought about something.  
"Hey Thean." Steven said. Thean looked down at him.  
"If Samaritans don't have families, why does Mayor Dewey have Buck Dewey?" He asked. To Thean, this was a good point.  
"You see Steven, when some of us are considered exceptionally at what we do, we are promoted into retiring. Bill happened to have his really early and he decided to settle down. We can still be caught up with the organization, but we can also be pulled back into action if the situation is dire." Thean explained.  
"Oh, does Buck know?" Steven asked.  
"That I don't know, I trust that Bill is responsible to do it on his own." He said.  
"Are there any other Samaritans in Beach City?" He asked.  
"Besides me and Bill, we're the only ones. Our organization rarely keeps secrets from each other." Thean said. "Now, time to train your shield abilities." Thean said cracking his knuckles. Steven groaned.  
"Fine..." He said as he got up.

* * *

 _In the Mayors Office._

Mayor Dewey was making a few phone calls and had blueprints on his computer screen.

"Yes sir...They are here...no, they're not hostile...they're willing to help...yes sir...yes I have the plans ready...yes Thean helped...yes sir, goodbye." He hung up and held the bridge of his nose. He has stayed up since the previous night handling the design of a new armor for Thean. As an exceptional Samaritan, Thean often received special privileges, including special armor and weapons. Dewey financially handled and looked over what would be comfortable for Thean to use and convenience him in battle. "This would certainly help him, but it will weigh him down...unless this is...yes! Perfect!" He said excitedly as his idea for the suit that would protect Thean popped in mind.

There was a knock at the door. Dewey changed to a different tab.  
"Come in." He said formally. Buck came inside. "Oh Buck, good to see you! What do you need my boy?" He asked genuinely concerned for him. Buck however, thought it was overbearing and embarrassing.  
"I was just wondering...mom called and she said she wanted me to spend next week with her. Can I?" Buck asked. Bill sort of felt a piece of his heart sink, but then he realized it was probably for the best. Pushing his personal feelings aside, he thought what was best for Buck.  
"Of course my boy! Every kid needs the love and support of both parents regardless of the situation! In fact, invite your little friends too. I'll tell your mother it's ok and I'll pay for their tickets." He said eccentrically.  
"Cool. Thanks dad." Buck said nonchalantly as he prepared to leave his father's office, holding the knob to close the door.

"Wait, Buck." Bill said sounding both serious and desperate.  
"What is it Dad?" He asked. Bill stood up and walked over to his son and gave him a hug.  
"I love you son." He said as he hugged him tightly. Buck was a bit confused, but knew that he meant it.  
"Ok dad, love you too." He said in a way that asked him to stop. Bill pulled back.  
"Oh right! A growing man needs his space, I get that." Bill smiled as Buck just gave him a blank expression.  
"Yeah thanks dad." And he walked out.  
Leaving Bill alone with the weight of his work.

* * *

 _Sorry for the extensive wait. July being my birth month, and with certain other celebrations going on, I got a bit sidetracked. But don't worry, I should be back on track. Thank you for your patience._


	4. Chapter 4

Day 2: Training.

At the temple, the Gems and Thean were teaching Connie and Steven about self defense and their fusion fighting style. They both fused to form Stevonnie for the day. Dual-wielding Rose's sword and their customed racket shield sword, and trying to hit Thean by swinging their large swords expertly at him. Even though they towered over him, Thean kept dodging and blocking each of their attacks with some trouble, but it was clear to everyone that he still had control over the fight.  
"Keep switching your style to throw off your opponent." Pearl said. Much to Thean's surprise, they changed their shield sword into just a shield, spun backwards and slammed him right in the chest.  
"I-I got him." They said in excitement and smiled.  
"Concentrate!" Thean said recovering quickly and swinging a downward cut at them. They got their head back in the game.  
"Right!" They said, preparing their shield to block his attack. Thean quickly redirected his downward cut by spinning in place and swinging it to the side, instead. Predictably, Stevonnie raised their shield to block the attack in the same direction they had Rose's sword in, leaving an entire part of them exposed. Thean took advantage of this mistake and as soon as his sword made contact with their shield, he spun back in place, lowering himself and lowkicked them at their feet. Effectively knocking them off their balance and on their back as well as causing them to unfuse. Thean sighed as he hoped their fusion would've been able to withstand more pain.  
"Ok, take five." He said as he sheathed his swords and reached for a water bottle.  
Connie and Steven were lying on the floor, both feeling the impact of their fall in their individual bodies. Connie was holding her tennis racket Steven gave her and Steven was holding his mother's sword. They both groaned, but stood up.  
"We really need to be able to stay fused..." Steven said.  
"Yeah, or we could wear armor..." Connie suggested. The Crystal Gems walked up to them.  
"Pearl. Should we get armor?" He asked her.  
"Well..." Pearl thought about it. "Gems don't traditionally wear armor..." She said.  
"But humans do." Garnet said. "Stevonnie is more human than Gem. It would make sense for them to wear it since they'll have more permanent damage if they get hurt." She said.  
"But where can we find armor that can fit them?" Amethyst asked. Pearl gasped at a realization.  
"Ah! I know just the armor sets."

* * *

A few minutes later, in Rose's Secret Armory. Pearl lead Steven, Connie, Thean and Lion to the platform. Pearl asked Garnet and Amethyst to stay at the temple.  
"Now Connie, Thean, this is a secret place that only Me, Rose, Steven and...Lion, " She rolled her eyes as she said that last part. " have been to. Consider yourself lucky as humans to gaze at its wonder." She said dramatically. Connie looked in wonder for a second.  
"So that's what this place was..." She said. This caught Pearl's attention.  
"What do you mean 'was'?" She asked incredulously.  
"Oh, I've only been here once and it was when me and Steven went to see Dogcopter three." She said informatively. This seemed to shock Pearl.  
"But I..." She began. "And I saw it twice, the first time they came here and the second time you and Steven were here." Thean explained, making Pearl feel worse.  
Steven quickly stepped in to make sure she didn't lose her cool.  
"Pearl it's ok. They didn't know what it was at the time. Just...show us the armor you were talking about." Steven said trying to convince her. Pearl looked distraught.  
"How can I...even be worthy if I keep failing you Rose...?" She asked herself. Steven held her hand.  
"Pearl. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the armory..." He said hugging her. Pearl snapped out of it.  
"Yes of course..." She laughed nervously. "Besides, secrets are eventually let out. So might as well tell them." She tried to cope with it before calming down. "Anyway," She rubbed away the tears in her eyes. "In here there are many kinds of armor." She said as everyone stepped on the platform, but once Steven entered it, it began to light up in a bright pink hue. Everyone, who have already seen this in one way or another, ignored it.

Once at the center, a large marble hand rose from the center and Steven placed his palm againt the surface of it.  
"Boop." Connie said as she poked Steven in the gut. Which simultaneously caused him to laugh and for the platform to summon several armors. Many of which Thean and Connie recognized as Plated French, English, Roman, and Japanese smithing styles.  
"Here they are!" Pearl said in excitement.  
"... How did you get these?" Thean asked in concern.  
"What do you mean?" She asked, confused.  
"These armors clearly aren't of Gem origin. Look at them. Clearly these were designed to he worn by their respective cultures." Thean walked up to the armors and showed how they were indeed human armors.  
"I have to agree with Thean on this." Connie said. "These armors look like European and Asian ones. Why Pearl?" She asked.  
Pearl was a taken aback by their claims.  
"What are you talking about? We've had this armor over five thousand years. Much earlier than even humans could make plated armor as sophisticated as this." She pointed to the armors. "Besides, the first metal ever used by man was copper, this armor is much more advanced." She said, getting defensive. Thean stepped up to check on each armor.  
"But they're...nevermind." Thean sounded as if he was about to inform her of something important, but held off on it. "We'll discuss it later." Thean turned to Connie and Steven. "Pick whichever you'd like. Once you guys do, back to training." He said walking back to Lion and wait for them. He thought that if he said anymore, then Connie would ask questions and want to get involved. And the last thing Thean wanted was for citizens to get involved in the affairs of the Crystal Gems and the Samaritans.

Steven and Connie looked at several of the armors.  
"Pearl...can we use a mixture of the armors?" Connie asked.  
"I don't see why not." Pearl responded. Both kids became excited as they ran off to different sets of the armors. They began to pick off certain parts of each set and brought them to the middle of the platform. Steven picked the chest piece and gauntlets, and Connie picked the boots and the helmet. Steven brought the chest piece that appeared silver but had black spikes coming out the shoulder guards, the gauntlets he got from the Samurai armor set. Connie picked out the Spartan-like helmet with wings coming out of the the temples and leather steel tipped boots.  
"This is gonna be great!" Connie said excitedly.  
"I know!" Steven acknowledged.  
They both fused again and put on the armor pieces. Thean looked up from his phone and saw Stevonnie clad in multiple kinds of pieces of armor. They looked like a some kind of war leader. Pearl saw this too and felt a bit emotional.  
"Ok, we're ready." Stevonnie said.

Thean got on Lion. Then Stevonnie and Pearl. They all teleported back to the temple. Where Garnet and Amethyst were surprised at how amazing Stevonnie looked. After they all said what they wanted on how they looked, Thean went back to a platform and got in a fighting stance.  
"Alright, back to training." He said as he took out his swords. Stevonnie grinned, feeling more confident than before, especially on Connie's side.  
"Let's go." And they charged at Thean with sword and shield raised, with the support of the Crystal Gems cheering them on.


	5. Chapter 5

Day 3: Strategies

Thean and Bill were discussing the battle plans in Bill's office. Thean was shown a map of Beach City, on the wall, marked with several colors in specific areas. Thean rubbed his chin in thought.

"This won't work..." Thean said.  
"Of course it will." Bill protested.  
"No it won't, because we don't know if they can just drop a bunch of ships down into the city itself. They did when Emerald was here." Thean said. Dewey's plan suggested that a bunch of the operatives be lined up prepared to shoot at the Gems if they came running into the city.  
"You're right...from the data of you fighting Emerald, it's clear we don't stand a chance at close combat..." Bill grabbed his forehead and wiped it with the back of his hand. "These Homeworld Gems are gonna be like fighting heat seeking missiles." Bill said seriously.  
"We have to minimize our casualties as best as we can. We don't know how many will come to the city." Bill said.  
On the map was a straight redline. Indicated as 'Red Kneyeghts.'  
"How about we put rifles, snipers and grenadiers on the arms and head of the temple?" Thean suggested. "That way, we they can all cover the Red Kneyeghts from there. Pearl and Garnet can help too. Both have projectile attacks and are more than capable of aiming at the enemy." Thean said as Bill pondered.  
"I like this idea. But." Bill grabbed a marker and in drew a blackline front of the redline. "Why stop there? We can put up a wall in front of the Red Kneyeghts, give the wall a few holes for them to shoot from. And!" Bill began marking several dots around the passed the blackline. "We bury mines and automatic turrets that I can fire from here?!" Bill said as he moved back to the three monitors by the table."I can connect them wirelessly so that from here, I can manually command the turrets to fire, literally behind enemy lines!" Bill said excitedly. Thean was impressed by how creative Bill was getting for the battle.  
"The enemy steps into the beaches. A wall comes up from underneath and protects the Red Kneyeghts, several mines go off, along with turrets coming out of the ground and shooting them on every direction. Then the firing squad on the temple shoots them down and the Red Kneyeghts themselves shoot from the gaps in the wall." Thean caught on to Bill's plan.  
"Exactly!" Bill said. "Those, our artillery will have time to execute several, well places shots on them." He mentioned. Thean agreed.

As they were talking, Pearl walked in as she felt the need to help strategize with them.  
"Hello. I hope I'm not interrupting." She said. "I was just wondering if I could help out going over some the battle plans." She said. "It's been such a long time since I strategized." She added. They both looked at her.  
"Sure. I'm gonna take a lunch break." Thean said as he made his way out of the office. Leaving Bill and Pearl alone. Bill was a bit nervous around Pearl and even stuttered around her.  
"Sure. Ahem. What would you like to know?" He asked between stutters.  
"Listen, Mayor, I understand we may have gotten on the wrong foot. With your spy equipment and what not. But I must say that I was utterly surprised when I found out you were a military strategist." Pearl complimented him. Mayor Dewey could feel his heart race as she complimented him. He was fighting the urge to flirt back. So he just laughed nervously.  
"Oh...well thank you. Miss Pearl. I have always had quite a knack for strategy and commanding." He scratched the back of his head out instinct. He gestured the map of Beach City on the wall. "However, the plans are not just mine. Thean has certainly helped out. I have also been starting plans on how to defend Beach City, ever since being elected Mayor. I try my best to give the citizens the security they deserve with blissful ignorance about the incoming dangers of the future." He informed her.  
"Fascinating." Pearl said as she looked onto the map and saw the 'Red Kneyeghts.' "What are those?" She asked out of curiosity.  
"I'm glad you asked, they're..."

* * *

As Bill proceeded to tell Pearl about the plans, Thean made his way down to the Big Donut, where Steven and Connie were sitting at a table, sharing half a dozen donuts and shakes. They failed to notice him as he continued walking up to Lars and Sadie's cashier. The both looked up.  
"Hey, guys." He greeted with a smile.  
"Oh, hey Thean." Said Sadie.  
"Yo, what up, Thean?" Lars greeted him with a high five, to which Thean high fived.  
"Nothing much. Can I get the usual?" Thean asked, referring to his bowl of ramen.  
"Comin' right up." Lars said as he began to prepare it. Thean looked over to Steven and Connie curiously.  
"Isn't it sweet?" Sadie said dreamily, and caught Thean's attention. "To be so young and on the border of love and friendship." She awed.  
"So I'm not the only one that noticed their little thing going on?" Thean chuckled. "So, any idea what they've talked about?" He asked. Sadie looked up.  
"Well, from over here I can't hear much, but earlier I did hear Steven say something about how he wants to tell her something." Sadie informed. Thean frowned at this.  
"Really now?" He asked knowingly. "I'll be back." He left the counter and walked up to Steven and Connie.

"With everything that's been going on with the Gems, Samaritans, and the invasion. I was getting super worried. I didn't know who else to turn to. The Gems are too busy with Thean and his strategies, and I can't tell Dad about this either. You're the only person I can confide in right now to talk to. I felt it best to come to you for help and to ask you something. I was hoping you could be there with me?" Steven asked her. With everything that has happened in the last few days, he wanted nothing more than to seek out encouragement from Connie. Steven looked at her with a face that spoke levels of hope, adoration, fear, and longing.  
"Steven, I...Of course I will fight along side you. We promised didn't we?" She said smiling with him. "I want to be there to fight alongside you. These last two years with you as my friend...have been amazing." She sighed in delight. "It seems only a while ago that I was that shy girl who had no friends or motivation." She cupped his cheek. "Steven, I owe so much to you for showing me a lot. Of course I will fight with you when the time-" She paused as a shadow was cast over them. They both turned to see Thean with his arms crossed.

"Steven. What did we agree to?" He asked as his face stayed level, but looked down at Steven, menacingly. Steven's heart sank as Thean looked down at him.  
"Thean! I-uh..." Steven stuttered a bit more, but breathed in calmly and breathed out. He collected himself and frowned back at Thean defiantly. "I told Connie about everything. And I know that I wasn't supposed to tell her. But I just couldn't handle all this alone!" He yelled at him, slamming his fist down on the table. "Beach City is going to be in danger by the end of the week and I can't even turn to anyone! You're busy training me and working out plans, The Gems are all busy with Peridot and going over things themselves, and... and..." Steven was on the verge of tears as he let his emotions flow. "I can't take it anymore!" He finally said it. Thean wasn't surprised, but he was taken aback by this sudden outburst and stopped crossing his arms. "I was afraid of talking to you about this because I thought that you were going to tell me to man up." Steven was honestly worried by what Thean would say to him when he found out. Steven remembered Thean's background and thought that he wasn't as strong as him at his age, so he was afraid Thean wouldn't pay any mind to it and tell him to man up. "I didn't grow like you Thean...I'm not used to preparing for war... I just didn't want to deal with this alone and ask Connie to help me." Steven looked down, finished with his speech.

Connie stood up from her seat, both Thean and Steven turning to her.  
"It's true. You have been working him overtime and it was only a matter of time that before he came to me. Can't you see all that's been going on is too much for him?!" Connie defended Steven. "He has done so much this past few weeks and you expect him to keep quiet about Homeworld?" Her face became red with a mixture of passion, anger, and blushing at just how she felt for Steven. "He may be a hero...but he's still a kid...He already does so much..." She said. "And I want to be there to help him!" She said running to Steven's side and holding his hand. "We do this together." She said finally as they turned to each other and smiled sweetly.

Thean was utterly surprised. Not because of how Steven managed to own up to his decision, but because he had the heart to tell him how he felt. Truth be told. Thean wasn't neglecting his needs as a teenager and continued to work him. However, Connie's tirade certainly helped. And Thean couldn't help but feel but smile at the sight before him. They looked like a King and Queen, ready to defend each other at a moments notice. In a way, it reminded him of his parents. He sighed.  
"Fine. There's arguing with you kids is there?" He chuckled and shook his head and smiled. This caused Steven and Connie to become confused. "As much as I hate to say this, I knew you both would want to fight together." He kneeled down to meet them at eye level. "Connie, I know I can't talk you out of it. But I have to warn you that this isn't a kid's game, or you Unfamiliar Familiar book series. This will be real. I don't know what your parent's will say or do. But I do hope you tell them. Ok?" He asked and she nodded. He turned to Steven. "Steven. I'm sorry if I made you feel lonely and unprepared. I promise you that I will not alienate you like that from now on." He put his fist out. "Bros?" He smiled. Steven smiled in returned and bro fisted him. Lars came out from the storage with Thean's Ramen.  
"Order up!" He said.

* * *

 _In the vast reach of space, a ship in the shape of a giant woman with multiple arms appeared to be floating, but was really being driven through space. Within the ship, at the head, there was a were two silhouettes.  
"So these models are improved?" Yellow Diamond asked as she looked at several arm cannons on the table.  
"Yes my Queen. Every one of them is capable of destroying matter." The other figure picked one of the canons. "It has three types of firing modes. Rapid, for a constant barrage. Single fire, for steady shots. And Hollow mode, which charges up the cannon to fire a large mass of light at the target." She switched the modes of the cannon but didn't fire to demonstrate. Yellow Diamond chuckled in amusement. She ran her finger down the side of the face of the other gem and to her chin and spoke in a very dominant tone. The other Gem shivered in delight to see her Queen happy.  
"My Pearl, you impress me with all your advanced technology." Yellow Diamond grinned at just how submissive this Pearl was, and how eager she was to please. "Keep up the good work, and after we retake Earth, I will promote you to higher ranks in my tower." Yellow Diamond let go of her chin and walked to the eye of the ship._


	6. Chapter 6

Day 4: The Day (Part 1)

"Today's the day." Steven said. "They're coming aren't they?" He asked.  
"Yes, they are..." Thean said, as if a storm were coming.

At the temple, Thean, Steven, Mayor Dewey and the Crystal Gems were all waiting patiently for a call.  
"They should be here any minute now..." Bill said nervously. Steven and the Crystal Gems were looking at them as if they were aliens.  
"They're your army, why're you nervous about it?" Amethyst asked.  
"Because, whenever you're in charge of an army, you must accept the consequences of what happens to it. Good or bad. Some Samaritans in those ranks are friends of ours and we're literally holding their lives on our shoulders." Thean said ominously.  
"I'm afraid he's right Amethyst. The burden of being a leader is that you are responsible for all the lives that put their faith in you." Pearl said, remembering just how many Gems gave up their lives for Rose.  
"War will have casualties. There is no way to avoid them." Garnet said, arguably being the most afraid as she saw the outcomes of how this battle would turn out. Steven looked down and thought of a way to cheer everyone up.  
"Is there any of them that I should knows?" Steven asked, smiling. Thean smiled back down at him.  
"Well, I do have some friends in that are coming by, but I'll let you meet them for yourself." He said as he patted Steven on the head.  
"I need to know what your fighting force consists of." Garnet demanded as she was getting impatient, mostly on Ruby's side. Bill amd Thean looked confused.  
"What do you mean?" Bill asked.  
"What is the profession of the majority of them?" She asked.  
"Oh I see. You want to know if your getting an army worth fighting alongside. No worries." Bill said as he fixed his suit. "They don't really have professions outside of the organization. But they do, however, have histories that are suitable for battle." Bill paused.  
"Steven, go outside." Thean demanded, mostly because some of the terms about to be used were not light. Steven didn't question it and just moved out. Bill continued.

"Among them are 'ex' thieves, assassins, murderers, prostitutes, con artists, slaves, drug addicts, abused victims, and homeless veterans. Some are ex, others aren't. The point of the Samaritans is to recruit those who know the meaning of a struggle and can solace in the rest of the organization and turn that into something to motivate them to help others that were in the situations they had to be in growing up. In a way, they're survivors. And know the dirtiest, and most efficient ways of fighting and surviving." Bill breathed in after his explanation of the Samaritans to Garnet. "We don't recruit weaklings Garnet, if that's what you're wondering." He said. "We are quiet possibly the most dangerous force on the planet next to the Crystal Gems." He said. This surprised the rest Pearl and Amethyst as well.

"Why?" Garnet asked. "Why was this organization founded?" She was still not ready to trust them wholly, not after the invasion of their, her, privacy.  
"For many reasons actually, our organization has fallen and been rebuilt many times. But it has always had the same objective by the descendants of the original founders." Bill said. Thean called Steven back in, as he felt he needed to hear this.  
"And they would be?" Pearl asked.  
"...We know about the first Gem war that happened five thousand years ago. We know about the reign Homeworld had on Earth for one thousand years." All the gems mouths dropped their jaws at this point. "We are a fighting force preparing for the inevitable return of Homeworld." Bill admitted.  
"But how? I thought Rose and other Gems only fought to protect the Earth." Pearl said, not fathoming the idea that humans could fight Gems at all, especially in such a primitive stage of their evolution.

"Don't get us wrong, there were many humans who fell to them in battle. But according to our manuscripts," Bill pulled out a document from his suit and showed it to the Gems. "the first Samaritan was a man who discovered the first metal of raw copper and used it to beat a Gem into releasing her physical form. Which caused other humans to join him. Not only that, but he was fierce. It is said that he is the inventor of both the first spears and slingshots to fight the oppressive Gems." Bill paused and drank some water. "His tactics were never ones of close combat, but hit and run tactics. It was unknown as to whether or not he managed beat Homeworld. But I'm sure it was due to Rose Quartz. However, to humans, the damage had been done, and many of them were lost to the cause. It's this point in history that humanity has faced the possibility extinction. But we somehow flourished. For many Millennia, our organization has fallen many times due causes of being accused of heresy, blasphemy, and apostasy. So up until a few centuries ago, we got smart and decided to keep the information secret to the masses and prepare for it ourselves." Bill finished his water. "Regardless of our beliefs to this, it was our duty to keep the rest of humanity safe from Homeworld. And that is the origins of our organization." Bill finished, leaving everyone in the room, except Thean, astonished.

Thean got suddenly took out a few pictures.  
"Now that you know our origins..." He put them on the table, and the pictures were of the temple from a bird's eye view, however, where the ocean should've been, there was none, and several hundred meters away from the temple, was a giant stone sword. "It's time we know the temple's. This are pictures taken by satellite of when Lapis Lazuli took the ocean, and for a few hours we took these pictures. What is that sword doing there?" Thean demanded the answer more than asking for it.

The Crystal Gems were looked at each other, as if debating whether or not they should tell them.  
"Guys, what is this?" Steven looked over the photos.  
"It's complicated, Steven." Pearl said. Thean looked at her with an accusing glare.  
"Is the temple a weapon?" Thean asked. This surprised the rest of the Gems even further. Garnet sighed.  
"The temple is an artificial fusion of all our gems including Rose Quartz." She admitted. "I say artificial because we created it using stone and the injectors from the Kindergarten. Rose knew that she was going to have to use many means of preserving her army as many times as possible, even if it meant using the technology used to destroy this planet..." Garnet paused for everyone else to take this in. "Using bits of all our energy to inject the earth to create Chrysoberyl. Our fusion. Her weapon was...it wasn't able to show, she couldn't mix all five weapons into one, so she had a giant stone carved sword." Garnet said. "The temple has an organic crystal heart. But we haven't activated her for over four thousand years. It would take all our concentration to reactivate it." Garnet turned to Steven. "Even you Steven." She smiled at him, which caused him to get excited. "We will not reactivate her until absolutely necessary." She finished. Thean frowned.  
"We will need her." He said. A beep could be heard from Bill's watch. He checked it and they all waited for him to say something.

"Well." Bill sighed, and accepted his responsibility. "They're here."


	7. Chapter 7

Day 4: The Day (Part 2)

At the highway leading into Beach City, multiple double decker buses were driving into town. In total, there were twenty-five buses. Twenty of which each held one-hundred Samaritans. And the other five of which held 'special equipment' and high ranked Samaritans.  
Many of the buses went into several of the open parking lots in town. The Five buses that held the special equipment and those Samaritans , however, headed down to the Temple where Steven, Thean, Bill, and the Crystal Gems were waiting at the balcony.

"Who's coming?" Steven asked.  
"Just...let's see." Thean wasn't sure himself.  
As the five buses made their way to the beach, they all parked in one straight line in front of the temple. From those five buses, nine people Stepped out. Two from the first four. And one from the last one.

Four of which appeared to be old, and semitic, with white hair, beards, and wrinkles. Yet possessed an aura of authority and carried themselves with a high caliber. Each of them had a six pointed star crest on their chest armor.  
Two of them were women, with voluptuous bodies that were concealed by their armor, but at the same time, showed off their feminine features without revealing skin. One was clearly of an oriental background and the other was of a caucasian one.  
Two of the other men were significantly younger than the other four, but were giants by comparison to the rest. In fact, both men were about as tall as Garnet, only appearing shorter due to her massive hair. One of them was caucasian with a lumberjack beard and the other was black and bald. Both had tremendously muscular builds that was shown in the design of their armor. The last one was a much smaller man by comparison to everyone else with a weak mustache and smooth hair. He looked of Indian decent, much like Connie, but had a more rat like look that anyone could tell was not a fighter, but conniving planner. His armor fit him tightly to show off his lean form.

As they all stepped out of the vehicle, everyone on the balcony walked down as well. Once the elder men saw the Crystal Gems, they approached them first. The other five Samaritans were standing behind the elders. The Elders bowed down to the Crystal Gems with a kind of respect that was not for leaders, or queens, but Goddesses.

"Uh..." Amethyst didn't know how to react. Neither did Pearl, or Garnet. These men of a clearly higher caliber bowed to them in a very submissive manner. They all stood up faster than they expected and spoke their names. Each of them carried weapons that best fit their body type and style.

"Samson." The heaviest looking of them said. He had a chain around his chest and a heavy sawed-off shotgun at his hip.

"Luke." The tallest, as well as youngest looking of the elders said. He had what appeared to be a spear, with a large blade, and an extended rifle both on his back.

"Jibreel." Said the one with a heavy tan. He carried an automatic rifle that was hanging on a strap and scimitar sheathed on his back.

"Nathaniel" Said the eldest of them all said. He had a staff on his back that was divided into three by two dark lines and several grenades strapped at his waste.

The Gems were speechless. Thean stepped up to them.  
"They don't speak english, so they just spoke their names." Thean explained, in a perfect stance that contrasted his usual rogue attitude.  
Nathaniel spoke in a very defined and respecting manner. Dewey stepped in this time, just as respectfully as every other Samaritan.  
"He says it is his greatest honor to meet a Crystal Gem." Dewey translated. "That at first he had a hard time believing there were other Gems, they even panicked. But once Thean and I managed to get more information about you all, he became more trusting." He finished translating after Nathaniel spoke.  
"What Language is that?" Steven asked Thean quietly.  
"It's an old dialect, one of the oldest in fact, it's called Hebrew, but they also speak Arabic, Mandarin, Swahili, and Deutch." He whispered to Steven.  
"Wow. They're smart." Steven said in amazement.  
"They're stubborn and very traditional." Thean said. Dewey spoke to the elders in a language they all understood and began leading them and the Crystal Gems, minus Steven, to the rest of the army of Samaritans, explaining the situation and ready to go over the plans.  
"Thean, introduce your company to the Steven, I think he'll find them all quite...interesting." Bill hesitated.  
Thean nodded and turned to the other five, multiracial, Samaritans.

"Hi, I'm Steven." Steven greeted and waved at them.  
"Hey there." The asian woman said. "I'm Fasha." She said nicely and bowed.  
"Aren't you the cutest!" Said the other woman to Steven, cupping his cheeks and pinching them "Nooo." Steven said in mock pain, secretly enjoying it. "I'm Saif." She informed.  
"Those two giants behind us are Ivan and Jabu." She said, pointing to the black and white men.  
"Greetings." They both said. The black man with a thick Russian accent, and the other with a kind of Ghanan accent that reminded Steven of Kofi. This threw Steven off, as for some reason he thought the accents were supposed to be reversed, but nevertheless, he didn't mind and smiled back as he greeted them.  
"I am Ranjeet." Said the smaller man, as he appeared behind Steven and Thean, seemingly out of nowhere. Causing Steven to jump up. "Careful, I might just steal your shoes from off your feet." He said as he held up Steven's sandles, Thean sighed as if it were a joke he's heard before.  
"Woah! How did you..?" Steven looked down at his bare feet on the sand. "That's amazing!" Steven exclaimed with stars in his eyes. Rajeet chuckled.  
"Best thieve in the entire western hemisphere." He bows. "At your service." He smiles before being picked up by both shoulders by the two other men, each one only using one arm.  
"Your skills are gonna get you in trouble one day, Raj." Said Juba.  
"Leave him be, Ivan, Juba." Said Thean. They let him go as Saif approached Thean.  
"Hey Thean." She said. Sounding a bit too familiar with him.  
"Hey Saif." He said indifferently to her, before turning to everyone else and inviting them in the house. "Come on in, we have...whatever Steven is gonna cook." Thean said, at Steven's surprise.  
"What?!" He turned toward Thean. "But I-" Steven was interrupted as the top of his head was shaken by the taller men.  
"Thank you small child." Said Juba.  
"Gratitude my friend." Said Ivan. Both of them making a type of powerwalk to the stairs.  
"Thanks kid." Said Fasha as she ran inside for the air conditioning.  
"I'm good, thanks." Saif said.  
"Here's your sandles back." Rajeet returned him his sandles. "I will have a sandwich." He said as he climbed up the beams of the balcony and made it up.  
Steven stood outside his own home, dumbfounded for a couple of seconds before sighing.  
"Oh boy." He said and walked back in the house.

* * *

 ** _After this, I want to know you guys if you want me to change this story to M rated for more adult themes. The Samaritans are NOT a kid friendly group. But I will let you decide if you want to read them curse, drink, etc. I want to know if you guys want me to get descriptive when THE battle comes. Please leave a review saying if you want me to keep it T rated or if you want me to go the extra mile and go full War on this fic. Or PM if you want._**


	8. Chapter 8

Day 4: Samaritans (Part 3)

As Steven made his way back in the house he went into the kitchen to see what he could make for six people.

"Well...Saif said she didn't want anything. So maybe just for five." Steven said to himself. "But what would Samaritans eat...?" He went to check on them to ask what they would like to have eaten.  
They were all in the living room, going over some things, almost as if having their own little reunion of sorts.  
"I'm telling you, there was nothing wrong with it." Said Fasha with laugh. "It was just a malfunction." She said a bit flustered.  
"A much appreciated malfunction." Said Juba jokingly.  
"Here here." Ivan followed, laughing at the subject.

The topic they were having confused Steven as he only managed to catch the last bit. Juba and Ivan were sitting on the larger side of the couch with Fasha in between, Thean sat at the edge of the short end, with Saif sitting next to him. Leaning a bit too close for Thean's comfort. Rajeet was sitting on the coffee table.  
"Uhm...do you guys want anything specific?" Steven asked as they all turned to him.

"Pizza!" Yelled Juba in excitement.  
"Donuts!" Said Ivan stoicly.  
"Fries!" Exclaimed Fasha with vigor.  
Steven looked surprised at their choice of foods. He figured they must have seen the closer shops in town.  
"I'll come with you." Said Thean as he stood up from his spot and walked out the door, not waiting for Steven. Steven was a bit confused but followed him out. As he closed the door, he caught a glimpse of Saif looking a bit hurt by Thean's actions. Steven frowned and walked down the steps to catch up to Thean, who was walking to Fish Stew's Pizza.

"Thean...why was Saif sad when we left?" He asked him.  
"...We have a 'history.' One I'd like to leave and forger." Thean said a bit hesitant.  
"Did you guys...fight?" Steven asked.  
"No, she just..." Thean sighed. "let's not dwell on it right now." Thean forced smile in order to tell Steven to move passed the subject.  
"So are we going to get all of the foods they sai..What the-!" Steven stopped mid sentence when both him and Thean saw how much busier Beach City had become.

Everywhere they turned, Samaritans were crowding the stores, the restaurants, the arcade, the beach, the theme park, and the streets themselves. "Where did they-?! How?! This is crazy!" He looked shocked at just how many people there were in town.  
"It's two-thousand people Steven." Thean said nonchalantly. "They're just enjoying themselves today because for the rest of our time spent here it's going to be nothing but training, planning, and preparing for them, let them enjoy themselves." He said before making his way to Fish Stew's Pizza. Steven followed inside and was surprised how packed it was.  
"This a lot of people...and they're all protecting us..." Steven said to himself as he understood the severity of what was going to happen by the end of the week. Kofi approached him with excitement.

"Steven, my boy! Do you see how my store is full?!" Yelled Kofi in amazement and joy. "This is the best day for my business!" This caused Steven to smile.  
"That's great Kofi. Mind if we get a large cheese pizza?" He asked as he gestured to Thean. Kofi wasn't not even phased by his question.  
"Sure, my boy! You can have this one on the house!" He said as he went back in the kitchen where the rest of his family was hard at work.  
"This might take a while, might as well take the time to order the other things." Steven said as he didn't feel like waiting.  
"You're probably right." Thean agreed and they both walked out and made their way to the Fry Stand. Where all the Frymen's were working quickly to give the orders of the Samaritans without having them wait.

"Ronaldo! Get in here!" His dad yelled.  
"But dad! I have to ask why they're all in uniform and in our city!" Ronaldo complained.  
"You can put it in your blog later! They're probably just coreplayers, like in your cartoons!" He said as he kept handing out several large fries out.  
"I told you it's cosplay and anime! Geez!" He corrected as he continued peeling as many potatoes as he could, before slicing and deep frying them.  
"This'll take too long..." Steven said as he lead Thean to the back of the building where Peedee was throwing away the peels.  
"S-Steven? What are you doing back here?" Peedee asked frantically. "You know my dad says employees only enter the back." He whispered.  
"Look I just need a quick favor, we just need some large fries and we'll pretend this never happened." Steven said convincingly. "We're not even in."  
Peedee was thinking about it, before sighing.  
"Fine, I'll get you party packet of fries." He said as he went out to get some.  
"Thanks Peedee." Steven said as he held out fifteen dollars for him, which Peedee took gradually and came back with a large packet of fries that almost resembled a bucket.  
"Here you go, you didn't get this from me." He says as he closes the door. Thean looks down at Steven.  
"You're a little fry dealer aren't you?" He teased, causing Steven to chuckle smugly as he held the bucket of fries.  
"It's a gift." Steven said with a terrible Italian accent.

They soon began to make their way to the Big Donut where Lars and Sadie were having trouble maintaining the orders.  
"This is insane! Wherw did all these people come from?!" Lars exclaimed as he tried to get everyone's orders.  
"I don't know but just do your job!" Sadie encouraged as she was taking down the orders. Steven and Thean moved through the crowded restaurant and managed to get their order of a dozen donuts. As soon as they did, they made a quick walk back to get their large pizza from Kofi. Once they made their way through the crowded streets, they went back to the Beach house.

"Not gonna lie Steven. I'm a bit surprised we managed to get all this in the time that we did." Thean said as he carried the box of donuts and the large pizza, while Steven held the bucket of fries.  
"I know, I thought we were going to be out here for hours, " Steven said as they were heading back to the beach house. "You still haven't told me about you and Saif..." He lowered his voice hoping Thean wouldn't hear. Thean sighed.  
"Steven it's complicated... Think of it like..." Thean tried to come up with an analogy. "If we were gems, our fusion would be unstable." Thean answered, causing Steven to somewhat understand. "We once brought out the best in each other. Now we only bring out the worse." Thean sighed.  
"I'm sorry to hear that." Steven apologized as he looked down.  
"Don't be. It doesn't involve you. So don't worry about it." Thean replied as Steven nodded.  
They continued making their way to the beach house and eventually reached it. Once inside, the five Samaritans rejoiced at seeing their experienced comrade and young host.  
"The food is here!" Thean rejoiced along with his fellow Samaritans, hiding his previous state of seriousness with Steven. Steven noticed this but didn't pay it much mind, as he figured he'd talk to him about it later.  
They all passed out the pizza slices, drinks, donuts, and fries. Steven's phone rang and he immediately ran up to his bed room. It was a message from Connie.  
'We need to tell my parents.'

* * *

 _ **Really sorry about not updating recently, college life and what not has been weird. But I'm managing. I still need more support for changing or keeping the Rating of this fic, if you guys wouldn't mind. Thank you guys for being patient for this fic, I should be able to continue more often than i have. And boy will it be worth it.**_


	9. Chapter 9

# Samaritans 9 #  
Day 5: The Talk

The message Connie had sent Steven the night before left him too nervous to reply back immediately. For one thing, he knew how strict and controlling her parents could be. Steven knew her parents meant the best for her, but as opposed to his dad and the gems pretty loose about what he is allowed to do, it worried what kind of reaction they'd have if they knew about what he needed Connie for. As he was thinking, he failed to remember that the Thean and the other Samaritans were asleep in the couching area. So as he stepped down tiredly he ended up stepping on a passed out Juba by accident.

"Niet..." He said in his sleep, causing Steven to fumble a bit as he made his way to the kitchen to make himself some cereal. He glanced at the Samaritans and the way they sprawled across the floor lazily didn't make him think of seasoned fighters, but more like children who had a sleepover. Once he made it to the kitchen his phone rang and another message from Connie appeared.

 _'Are you ok?!'_

This brought a smile for a brief second to his face, as despite him not immediately answering her text last night, she was worried about him nonetheless. He took a deep breath as he called her. The phone didn't even have a chance to ring as at that moment, Connie was on the other end of the phone.

"Steven, what's wrong?! Are you alright?" Connie asked worriedly.  
"I'm fine Connie." He assured her. "I'm sorry for not responding immediately. I was...I got nervous and fell asleep. But...I'm willing to help you tell them." He said. On the other end, Connie was relieved for two reasons. Her friend was safe, as well as willing to be with her.  
"Alright, thanks Steven." She smiled. And at the same time so did Steven. Suddenly, Thean picked up his phone and ended the call. Steven jerked to face Thean with an irritated look.

"Thean what was that for?!" Steven asked angrily.  
"We are not telling anyone anything else." He said threateningly.  
"It's just her parents!" Steven complained.  
"And a few days ago it was just Connie." Thean retorted. "We cannot compromise this mission by telling everyone close to you." Thean said.  
"But what if they don't let her?" Steven asked in anger.  
"..." Thean narrowed his eyes at Steven.  
"I don't want her parents to not know what is going on and have her risk her life without them knowing. Connie is the only person I know that has both parents!" Steven said. He knew that Beach City was full of people who lived alone, or had one parent. Everyone except for Connie and Onion, but he knew that even his family was distorted with two different fathers for different brothers. Connie however had a set of parents who loved her and eachother. It hurt him to imagine to leave them out of a matter this important that involved him needing her.  
"Fine. But we're going to need Bill. Her father works for him. So we have some sort or excuse on how to talk to him. Also..." Thean placed his hand on Steven's shoulder. "Bill and I have discussed what we're going to need you and Connie to do during the battle." He said. Steven nodded.  
"Alright..." Steven said he took a deep breath as he and Thean began to walk out over to the door. Thean handed Steven his phone back. "Thanks." Steven got an idea. "We need to bring Pearl with us."  
"Why?" Thean asked in slight confusion.  
"She can help convince them."  
Thean nodded as he contacted Bill about what needed to be done and Steven went to fetch Pearl.

 **Much later, at the Maheswaran Residence.**

"What do you mean our daughter is an asset?!" Connie's father asked incredulously.  
"What is all of this about?" Her mother asked in worry as she held Connie protectively.  
"She is needed for what is going to happen at the end of the week." Pearl said calmly.

The situation had started out fairly well. The Maheswaran's were very polite and hospitable to Steven, Bill, Pearl, and Thean. But everything changed when Pearl said the worst thing a parent could ever hear about their child.  
"She's going to be a great asset to the cause." Pearl repeated.  
"Our daughter is not an asset!" Connie's mom said.  
"Oh but she is." Pearl replied calmly.  
"Pearl shut up." Thean said as she turned to him with a frown as he took over the situation. "Look, trust us when we say that we do need her help. Specifically with Steven." He explained.  
"What are you talking about?! What do you need my daughter for?" Connie's mom held her tightly.  
"She...I need her for a battle that is going to take place by the end of the week." Steven admitted before turning to Pearl. "Pearl can you show them?" He asked referring to her ability to project a hologram of what was on her mind.

"Oh, right." She nods and concentrates on her gem to project the events that have happened in the past week.  
"So in conclusion. Connie is needed to help Steven for their part in the plan." She informed.  
"Absolutely not! You want my daughter to participate in an Alien war." Her father said.  
"Trust me Mr. Maheswaran, we're trying to have them both avoid as much physical conflict altogether. They're not going to be in the initial part of the battle." Bill said. Both Steven and Connie looked at him in surprise.

"Seriously?" Steven and Connie asked at the same as Bill spoke. Connie stepped up to Bill.  
"I thought the whole point of the two of us participating was to fight together?" Connie asked, equally surprised. Bill stepped in.  
"Well...you see. We won't have them directly in the frontlines." He told her dad. "Instead we need them for a purpose just as important as the fighting. We know about how easy a gem can overpower humans in combat, which is why having the Crystal Gems are on our side is very helpful, however...we need help from someone equally or even more powerful than our forces combined." Bill turned to Steven and Connie. "And that's where the two of you come in. We need you both to find Malachite." Bill said, much to the dismay of Pearl and Connie's parents.

"What?!" All three of them asked incredulously.

"Who is that?!" Connie's mother asked.

"You are not sending him to find Malachite!" Pearl said.

"We need them to." Thean spoke up calmly. "Steven...you're able to communicate telepathically with her right? But only in your sleep?" He asked him.  
"Yeah." Steven answered. Thean turned to Connie.  
"And Connie, when you fuse with him, you have more control of your mind as well as his, correct?"  
"Y-yes." She nodded a bit nervously as her parents were also in the room.  
"So his powers combined with your smarts should be able to track her down her exact location." He knelt down to both their eye level. "I need both of you, as Stevonnie, to find and convince her to join us." He gave them a sincere look. Steven and Connie looked at each other before they nodded.  
"Absolutely not!" Connie's father said. "You are not recruiting my daughter in your army like some cheap teen fantasy movie." He pointed at Bill. "I cannot allow you to do this."  
"Mr. Maheswaran. I assure you that your daughter's and Steven's safety is as much our concern as yours, which is why we gave them this task. You are more than welcome to help out." He paused for a moment. "In fact we can always use a communications officer and an extra medic."

To say that the Maheswarans were appalled was an understatement. They were about to yell at him once more when Connie stood up.  
"Mom! Dad! I want to do this!" They both turned to her at her outburst. "I-...I want to do this." She rubbed her shoulder feeling alone and vulnerable now that she opened and spoke to them about it.  
"But you don't like any of this stuff, you're a good girl, we know this." Her mom said, while putting her hand over her chest.  
"No you don't! I've been doing this for the past year with Steven! And yes, it gets intense and scary, but I had more purpose doing that stuff with him than I have in any of the activities you guys have signed me up for!" Connie balled her fists. "I want to do this!" She admitted at the top of her lungs.  
Both her parents stood there in utter shock, not knowing how to respond.

"Is this how you feel?" Her father kneeled down in front of her and put his arm on her shoulder. "Do we really feel like you have no purpose?" Connie wiped her eyes from the tears that were coming out and sniffled a bit.  
"Y-yeah..." She said quietly. Her mother kneeled along with her father and hugged her tightly.  
"Connie, you need to tell us this...We're your parents. If you feel like you don't have a purpose then talk to us. But please don't hold it inside..." She sighs and swallows her pride. "We'll let you."

Both Steven and Connie looked up at her with a mixture of shock and relief.

"Really?!" They both smiled at her, Connie on the verge of tears of joy.

"Thank you Mom! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She jumped up and hugged her tightly, suffocating her a bit. Mrs. Maheswaran smiled.  
"Ok Connie, just be careful...alright?" Said her father nervously. His eyes were beginning to water as she hugged him as well, and then his wife too. The Maheswaran family was embraced in a hug that could only be described as beautiful and happy. The sight alone caused Steven, Bill, and Thean to smile warmly, wishing they were able to have shared a complete family hug like that as the one the Maheswarans were displaying. Pearl smiled as well at the sight.

After a while, Connie let go of her parents and stood next to Steven, holding his hand as they both looked up to Thean for further instructions about their task. Thean nodded and cleared his throat.

"We need you both to fuse into Stevonnie and to fall asleep. Concentrate enough on communicating with them in your dreams. With Stevens telepathic ability, and Connie's disciplined mind, we're theorizing you'd be capable of figuring out where Malachite is. Once you pin point your location, you will both create a bubble around yourselves and look for her. Once you do find her, Steven should be more than capable of convincing Lapis alone in Malachite. Your real challenge is convincing Jasper to come along and fight on our side." Thean explained to a very intrigued Steven and Connie.

"So how will we be able to convince her to help us?" Connie asked just as Steven was about to. Thean nodded and took out a recording device.

"Jasper is the one who is likely to hold a grudge against the Crystal Gems. Because of her defeat with Garnet and allegiance to Yellow Diamond. However, I believe this will help you in convincing her." Thean said as he pressed a button on the device and some voices were heard that were only familiar to Steven.

 _" **You know Yellow Diamond doesn't condone failure. Hell, she probably wants us to retrieve them so she could punish them herself."-  
"You're right. After failing to reactivate the Kindergarten, crashing the ship, and disobeying orders I'd say those three are in for it."**_

Once the device ended its recording, Steven finally recognized that it was two of the Gems that were here the previous week.

"I doubt Jasper will still be loyal to her Diamond for fear of consequence of her failures." Thean smirked as he handed the device to Steven.  
"Where is that from?" Connie asked. Puzzled at the recording, she was able to figure out that it was someone Jasper probably knew, but as far as the whereabouts of who said it and why was a short mystery to her.  
"Oh." Steven slowly reacted to her question and turned to her with a confident grin. "That was from last week when Thean fought Emeralds' platoon and we overheard their conversations." He said and Connie 'ooh-ed' in the realization before turning back to Thean.  
"Wait, will you be with us?" Connie asked, hoping he'd say yes as she was initially nervous of only her and Steven going alone on this important a mission. Steven looked up as well as he hadn't heard much of what his participation in this war was. Thean looked away and sighed. Pearl looked suspiciously at Thean.  
"Yeah." Bill said as he was left in the dark about this topic as well. "You haven't informed any of us of what your role in this mission would be."

The whole room was silent and looked at Thean with pure focus. Thean was debating inwardly whether or not he should tell them about his assignment.

"I won't be on the beach." He said, which sparked a small ray of hope to Steven and Connie that he may be joining them instead. Thean saw this and immediately spoke to them. "Nor with you two." Both teens were surprised at this. If he wasn't going to fight on the beach, nor be with them, where was he going to be? Thean motioned to Bill that they should leave. Bill got the message and stood up and laughed heartily to break the tension in the room as all eyes were on him now.  
"It's fine. We can discuss this with the Gems. We got our point across here." He said amicably as everyone began to say their goodbyes.

* * *

 **Ok. I accidentally deleted this chapter when I was about to post the new one. I am getting back into finishing this fic over the summer and have updated my profile if you guys are interested. I do have an apology and a thank you. The next chapter should be up soon.**


	10. Chapter 10

Day 5: Revelations (Part 2)

When Steven, Bill, Pearl, and Thean got back in town, the festivities among the Samaritans were still going, many were partying, others eating, some even sparred. Steven truly wondered if what Thean said about them all having dark pasts was true. The way they danced, celebrated, and engaged with one another made it seem like none of them had gone through anything like that,ever. They all looked so happy.

Once inside the beach house, Garnet and Amethyst smiled as Steven and Pearl returned.  
"Howdy." Garnet smiled and waved at Steven.  
"Whaddup, Steven!" Amethyst yelled at seeing her favorite quartz.  
"Hey guys!" Steven says as he ran up to hug them both.

Thean was outside with Bill and Pearl.  
"You need to tell us, Thean." Bill said with a worried expression.  
"I agree, with everything that has been going on recently, it's hard to believe you have no role in this war. Or at least one that you haven't told us about yet." Pearl said crossing her arms.

Thean was frowning. He was really hoping that he didn't have to tell them what he was going to do.  
"It's best you didn't know." He responded.  
"That's no an answer Thean. You need to tell us because any moment within the next few days, an invasion is taking place. And if we're not aware of what your role is in this fight, it could compromise our survival." Bill argued heavily. Thean looked away as Bill and Pearl frowned.  
"..." They both remained silent until they walked inside, Thean following them, and faced everyone in the room.

"You need to tell us Thean." Garnet said, much to Thean's surprise. Seeing this, Garnet explained. "In every outcome I keep seeing for the upcoming battle, you're not with any of us. What are you doing?" She asked firmly.

Thean was unsure whether or not the Crystal Gems should know about it.  
"Tell us what?" Amethyst asked as the tone of the matter sounded so serious that it didn't sound much like her. Garnet remained silent as she analyzed the possible outcome of what it was that Thean was hiding from them.  
"Fine." Thea said as he took a deep breath. "As you know...we have detailed files about the entire temple...with the invasion that is going to take place soon, I the need a sort of help in which I think only you can provide." He began much to the confusion of everyone else.  
Pearl and Amethyst had looks of confusion, but Garnet felt as if she knew what he may have have been about to ask.  
"I need to use the corrupted gems you've collected over the centuries for a part in the invasion." Thean finally admitted.  
Garnet had a stoic look about her, which caused Bill to sweat nervously for his compatriot.

"This part of the plan is called the 'Ark'." Thean spoke up. "It is the secret part of our defense against Homeworld. The Elders figured if one ship was big enough to carry three to sixteen Gems, they figured an invasion would have to come from much larger ship, the 'Ark' itself is a rocket propelled aircraft that resides under water that is several miles away from the shore of Beach City. The reason for this is so that it is shot up into Homeworld ship, to penetrate and crash land inside the ship. This is where we need the Corrupted Gems." Thean crossed his arms, showing he wasn't taking no for an answer.  
"We cannot allow this." Garnet said as Pearl nodded.  
"Why not? It's not like they're doing much now." Amethyst said rather bored.  
"Because some of them were our comrades at one point in the past!" Pearl yelled as the idea horrified her, causing Amethyst to look away with a frown at her own ignorance.  
"I know, but they're beasts now. Their purpose is destruction, and from what we've seen. We need them for the Ark." Thean explained with conviction.  
"They're right..." Garnet says, surprising them all. "Should we use them in their makeshift base the corrupted Gems have a higher chance of dealing more damage from the inside than humans." Garnet took off her shades to reveal her three eyes. "But this comes back to a question you don't want answered Thean." She said, causing him to take a deep breath. It was questionable if she could see his future from the look in her eyes. "Who is going to steer the Ark? Someone needs to keep it on course manually." Thean sighed.  
"The Elders chose me." Thean said. "Once inside, I'll need to plant explosives in vital areas of the ship whilst the corrupted Gems are wreaking havoc throughout the rest of it." Thean explained with moment of silence afterwards.

Thean looked at everyone expectantly and wondered if it was enough.

"That's not all you want to do, is it?" Steven asked, seeing Thean was somewhat upset.  
"I don't know what you mean." Thean retorted, not wanting to talk about it, looking away.  
"Thean...you want to challenge Emerald, don't you?" Steven questioned. Thean's eyes widened momentarily, slightly annoyed that Steven was able of figuring him out that easily. Still, he did not want them to intervene.  
"Maybe. But my priorities come first. Unleash the corrupt Gems, and plant the explosives. Whether I encounter her or not is up to chance." He said looking away. At that, it wasn't much of a secret anymore and everyone in the room figured out that Emerald had something to do with this.  
"Thean...you can't do this to us. What if something bad happens?" Steven asked innocently, looking up at Thean. Thean snapped.

"This is war Steven. It's already bad!" Thean yelled. One look from a frightened Steven and he tried to recompose himself. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Everyone stepped back in worry, minus Garnet. "There's going to be casualties Steven. And unlike Gems, humans can't comeback. Every move we make, every order we give involves a risk. Gems could defeat us if we're not careful." He explained until Bill nodded.  
"He's right. The first line of defense is on the beach. That's where the Red Kneyeghts are stationed." Bill said as he brought up the map showcasing the entire planned battlefield.  
"What are the Red Kneyeghts?" Steven asked as he looked on at the map.  
"The Red Kneyeghts are the first lines of soldiers we'll put in the beaches. They have armor made from the material that composed the Red Eye we fought and destroyed two years ago that should be better use to them against the enemy." Pearl answered, having been told by Bill a few days ago.  
"They will be our first line of defense. Once they're fully stationed, we will place mines behind them, when the gems get passed them..." Thean paused as he saw Steven's eyes widen.  
"W-what?!" He exclaimed in concern. "What do you mean get passed them?" He looked at Thean and Bill with worry. "You're planning their deaths..." He spoke softly and looked as though he had been betrayed and horror stricken.

"This plan has been in the making, we all know what is going to happen. And every single Samaritan, especially the Red Kneyeghts, knows this, Steven." Thean took a deep breath as Steven looked physically ill as well as about to cry. Steven attempted to prevent himself from doing so, by rubbing off the tears with his forearm.  
"But what about..?" Before he could finish asking, a hand was in each of his shoulder, this caused Steven to turn around to see Jabu and Ivan.  
"It is alright, little soldier. We accept this with our being." Said the tall dark-skinned man.  
"But why?" Steven sobbed.  
"Because there are things and good people in this world worth protecting, little soldier." Said Jabu in his thick Russian accent.  
"Steven. There is no such thing as a good war. You know this." Provided Ivan. "But we choose to buy as much time as we can for you to convince the fusion to join our fight." He said.  
"But we still have to figure out where Malachite is." Steven said worriedly and could feel himself begin to panic. "She could be anywhere in the Ocean." Thean stood up.  
"Not necessarily. We have theorized that if you're able to communicate with her in your sleep, then Stevonnie could. Connie should be able to figure out where she is by the patterns of fish, seaweed and currents. Once you both find out, you'll need to find her yourself by up and using this." Thean said as he handed Steven a GPS device. "You'll be able to find her easier this way when you find her location." Steven took hold of the device and looked around at everyone. As he held the device in his hand he looked up at all of them.

"But...you guys can't die...You just can't..." Steven pleaded as he was on the verge of tears. "I have only gotten to know you guys for a while, but you guys are good people..." Thean looked in worry. Jabu, Ivan, Ranjeet, Saif, and Fasha were all smiling down to him. Which only made him feel sadder.  
"Steven, we know the danger of this mission. But we do this kind of stuff all the time." Explained Saif. "Jabu and Ivan...they're ready for this. We all are. This is what being a soldier is. To fight, defend, and die for your cause." She explained and they all knelt in front of him. "We have been prepared for this day. Everyday." She said.  
"We chose this willingly." Jabu said.  
"Huh?" Steven asked in confusion.  
"We signed up to be in the first line of defense, and we will surely give them hell." Ivan explained. "Do not worry my friend. We still have a couple of days left. And know that we went out with a just cause." He said to Steven.

Steven all while was becoming more and more scared at the idea of death of two of the Samaritans in front of him. He quickly ran out the house and into the beach.  
"That didn't help..." Thean sighed in frustration at his companion's method of helping Steven feel better before running after him. Thean found Steven sitting under the docks of the peer. He went up to him and sat down next to Steven. Steven in return didn't run away, but hid his head in his arms.

"It's alright to be afraid..." Thean said honestly, causing Steven to look up at him with surprise. "I always am. It's hard not to get accustomed to the people you work with. Over the years I have worked with countless brave Samaritans and lost many of them on many missions. It keeps me awake at night sometimes. I always wonder if there were things I could have done." Thean said in reminiscence.  
"D-did you?" Steven asked sadly.  
"Yes. I found out from many angles that there were things that could, would, and should have been done better, that I was very much capable of doing...but ultimately I didn't. And looking back now it still haunts me. But I eventually found out that it's just that. Didn't. Some things in our lives are beyond our control. Some other things are in it. But it is ultimately up to us to know when it is. Sometimes we don't know. And when you do, you do everything in your power so that it doesn't happen again. It happened. And there is no turning back anymore. But the life I live, the lives the Samaritans live...we are bound to get into those situations again, and we know what to do the next time we get into it." Thean said with wisdom that Steven hadn't seen before. "We choose to fight because we believe. Juba and Ivan knew. And there isn't a moment in my life that I wish we didn't go on these life risking missions." Thean said, and Steven could tell that there was a cathartic sense in Thean just now.  
"Why don't you?" Steven asked without thinking and his eyes widened as if it were something he shouldn't have asked. This caused a chuckle from Thean at his reaction.  
"Honestly." Thean smiled softly and gave Steven a brotherly nuggie, causing him to laugh a bit. "Somebody has to keep the good in this world safe." Thean says as he and Steven embrace one another in a hug.  
"I don't think I can handle this..." Steven admitted once more.  
"You'll find the courage to."

* * *

 **Finally an update after who knows how long. Almost a year I think. I am getting my things back in order from a dark place I was in unfortunately, but fortunately now however, I am getting better and over the Summer there will be more chapters. This is a promise. And for a better apology, please refer to the bottom page of my profile. I missed this.**


	11. Chapter 11

Day 5 Celebrations

Steven woke up the next morning with a smile. The talk he had with Thean he had the nigh before was something he needed to hear. Knowing he wasn't the only one who was worried about everything else somehow soothed him. He got out of bed and took a quick shower before quickly changing into his regular clothes. Once finished, he went into the kitchen and made the sudden realization that he was alone. No one, not even the Crystal Gems were home. At first, Steven didn't think much of it, and chose to simply go about his day until he came across someone he knew. After about half an hour into breakfast and no sign of anyone showing up, he chose to go look for anyone throughout the house. As Steven opened the door to walk out of the house, the sunlight shined directly into his eyes, painfully causing him to flinch momentarily.

"Ah!" He yelped and rubbed his eyes in an attempt to make the pain and eye tricks go away. Once he managed to do so, he looked out once more and couldn't believe what he saw. "Woooa..."

Throughout the entire coast of Beach city, some sort of party was being held. Not just any party, but a really wild one. One so large that there appeared to be more people than sand. Steven saw so many people doing so many different things wearing such colorful party clothes. Many were dancing, others were singing, some were sparring, drinking, eating, playing music, cooking food, it was overall a sight to behold among the beaches of an otherwise calm and mundane city.

"Looks like someone finally woke up." Thean said behind him. Steven turned around and saw Thean wearing very casual clothing, a red shirt with flame patterns and blue swim trunks.  
"What's going on?!" Steven asked excitedly with his eyes forming stars.  
"It's our last party." Thean said nonchalantly.  
"Last party?" Steven asked in confusion.  
"Yup. After today, everything is going to change. So the Samaritans are spending all day today partying. And tomorrow, and day after that, it is back to business as usual." Thean said with a smile.  
"Wait! So all those people down there are Samaritans?!" Steven exclaimed in wonder and surprise at the realization.  
"Yeah, do you know any other group of people that came to Beach City recently?" Thean teased and began to walk down the stairs. "Also, I took the liberty of sending Connie a message from your phone inviting her and her parents to the party." He said and tossed Stevens phone back to him. Steven caught effortlessly, surprising himself and Thean. "Looks like your training is finally paying off." Thean complimented and went ahead to join in on the fun.

Steven looked down at his phone, and even though Thean sent a message to Connie, he wasn't comically mad or annoyed, but simply smiled. Figuring out he would have invited Connie out anyway. Steven began to dial Connie's number and after a few rings, she picked up.

"Steven! Good morning!" Connie exclaimed happily through the phone, causing Steven to smile.  
"Good morning Connie! Did you get the text?" Steven replied.  
"I did! Thanks for inviting me and my parents! Mayor Dewey told my dad he could have the day off and said that this party being thrown by his and Thean's group. It sounds like it's gonna be an awesome party!" Connie informed him excitedly.  
"Yeah, from where I am standing, I can totally tell that this party is going to be the best one we're ever gonna be in!" He said excitedly.  
"That sounds awesome! I'm gonna meet you up at your house, is that ok?" She asked.  
"Actually, with the crowded beach its better that I meet up with you and your parents. heheh." Steven chuckled softly as he saw just how hectic the Beach was.  
"Aw, you're sweet Steven. Where should we meet you guys?" She smiled at his consideration.  
"Uhh...I'll see if I can get my dad to drive us to meet you, if all else fails, I'll get Lion to help me and meet you through him." Steven planned and explained.  
"Sounds like a plan. See you in a bit, Steven." She said and smiled.  
"See ya too." Steven said and they both hung up their phones.

* * *

As Steven was making his way through the crowds, he was becoming more and more frustrated at how difficult it was to maneuver through it. He wondered how this was going to be like for Connie. He remembered being fused with her and how uncomfortable it made them when they were the center of attention. He knew he had to be careful with Connie and prevent any unwanted attention from this many people. Though from the way that everyone was partying and doing one thing or another, it seemed relatively fine to go off undetected.

As he kept avoiding everyone's feet, he could see Thean drinking and partying with Fasha, Saif, Ranjeet, Juba, and Ivan. They were dancing and laughing amongst each other. He quickly made his way against hill so he could make his way through the crowd easier to make it to his dad's car wash. As he kept moving, he couldn't help but notice that Saif had subtlety dragged Thean away from the group and began to dance intimately with him. Pressing her body softly against Thean's, causing Steven to blush at her movements. It wasn't that he wanted to see, he just couldn't look away. For curiosity of his friend Thean, and for a growing boy's interest in the opposite gender. Steven made sure that he was out of sight from them.

"I miss you sometimes, you know." Saif explained to him. This interested Steven as he only knew that Thean and her had some sort of history that was hidden in the dark.  
"I don't honestly." Thean admitted. "What we did was in the past, and that's that. Let's leave it at that." Thean said, looking rather impatient.  
"You don't have to be a jerk about it. I never really liked this side of you." She pouted playfully, which only made Thean frown more than he was.  
"You're the one that broke the other parts." He near spat at her. "What we had shouldn't even have happened. Hell, we were barely anything to even begin with." He said with anger bordering in his voice, but still keeping a low profile so as not to create a commotion among the other Samaritans.  
"Look, we can have our fun on our last day, or you can be like this. Your choice." She retaliated slightly and held his arm, yet no one turned, whether out of avoiding in getting involved or just not hearing them.  
"I choose not to get involved with you the same way twice." He reminded. "Besides, you're the one that ended things and I chose not to let it get the best of me." He jerked his hand away from hers.  
"We were kids!" She yelled louder in a last attempt to convince him. "We were young and I wanted to have fun before missions." She said and looked at him hoping he'd agree with her. Thean crossed his arms.  
"Just like now?" He said and walked away, leaving Saif speechless. As he walked away from her he noticed Steven was listening in on them and made his way to him. Steven tried to look for an immediate way out of the situation. But Thean managed to catch up to him. "Steven. Whatcha up to?" He asked as if he hadn't had the conversation with Saif just now.  
"I-I was heading off to find my dad to go meet up with Connie and her parents and lead them to the party." Steven said, not knowing really how to react after witnessing the Thean and Saif's encounter.  
"I'll join you." He said and they both began to walk toward Greg's Car Wash. Steven couldn't help but wonder and worry about his and Connie's friendship. Thean noticed his reaction and sighed. "Look Steven. Don't let this get to you. Ok? That was between us." He advised. Only Steven was already thinking about it.

* * *

Once Steven and Thean made it to the Car Wash, they saw that Greg was playing his guitar and singing in front of some Samaritans, all of which were listening intently and in wonder. Steven couldn't have been more happy for his father, as he was told how as a rockstar he wasn't very successful. Even Thean acknowledged this smiled for Greg who had grown fond of as a friend.

"You know, I think dad's busy right now, do you want to just get Lion to take us to meet up Connie?" Steven asked.  
"Sure." Thean said smiling and seemingly out of nowhere, Lion appeared shortly and allowed them both to mount him.

As they rode, Steven wondered more and more about Connie. From what he heard, he could tell that at some point Thean and Saif were good friends, but he didn't know just how good. If they like him and Connie, then he had more reason to worry, if not then he still worried because they adults and wondered if that was what adulthood was going to be like. Suddenly, Steven found himself losing interest in the party bit by bit. As Lion continued to sprint down the empty streets of Beach City, they finally came across an all to familiar and single car driving down the road. Steven smiled and waved at the Maheswarans car.

"Hey! I know a spot where you guys can park, follow us." He said and lead them just outside his dad's carwash. The Maheswarans got out and greeted Thean and Steven. "Hey guys! I'm glad you could make it." He said as he and Thean extended their hands out to Connie's parents.  
"Well, this seemed like a nice place to attend. As long as Connie is safe with you." Mr. Maheswaran said as he admitted his confidence in Steven.  
"Trust me, there's nothing to worry about sir." Thean confirmed. "In fact, let's catch up, I want to talk to you about the day we met. I may have created a farce introducing myself as Steven's half-brother." Thean admitted, not surprising the Maheswaran's.  
"Is that so?" Connie's mother asked in a less than surprised tone.

As they were talking, Steven and Connie have already snuck out to the party giggling and laughing as they ran around looking at all of the festivities. Connie was more than happy to have participated with Steven. Recently, she has been thinking more and more about the upcoming battle with Homeworld, and the more she did, there was not another person she'd rather be with. She felt safest with Steven, but her emotions did come into question. She found herself not only wanting to be close to him during battle, but she found herself wanting to be closer to him. Closer than fusion. Connie didn't necessarily understand her own feelings just yet, but she was realizing that here feelings for him were bordering more and more above friendship alone. She thought about whether or not she should act on her feelings before the battle happened. She didn't want something to have happened to either of them in the fight that would result in not doing something now that couldn't be done afterwards.

Steven on the other hand, was still worrying over the argument that Thean and Saif had. He certainly didn't want him and Connie to end up like that. From what he saw in their encounter, was that they were both intimate in ways that he didn't understand. And the less he understood, the more he thought that he would mess it up with Connie like Thean and Saif did. He certainly knew he liked Connie more than just a friend, but the risk of engaging in something that could jeopardize their friendship was something that he didn't want to try. The mere idea of Connie rejecting him, or them having an argument like Thean and Saif scared him. For the moment and during the battle he thought that he should just be friends with Connie and only after the battle make a decision on their relationship. At the moment, risking it wasn't something that he thought should happen.

As they both made their way through the crowds, they got food and drinks and turned to the skies when fireworks began to go off.

"Woah!" They both exclaimed in excitement as Steven's eyes formed stars and Connie's diamonds. They both suddenly turned to one another and blushed before Steven looked away in worry and noticed someone handing out fliers, he and Connie were given one each.  
"A special song is going to be performed later tonight. If you have any of the following instruments, you're welcome to play the following notes to the song. If you can't play, don't worry, you can dance." Connie read out the flier in excitement. "Steven this is great! Instruments include a ukele and a violin! This is perfect!" She smiled and looked at Steven, who chuckled nervously.  
"That sounds awesome! You brought your violin?" Steven asked.  
"Yeah, dad has an extra one for me in his car if I ever forget my other one at home." She blushed, not really wanting to be associated with being forgetful.  
"Well, it was good idea." He complimented and chuckled as she did so. "So where do you wanna go to now?" He asked.  
"Hmm..." Connie pondered and looked around and pointed down to under the peer. "There! It's getting a bit crowded and I need some room." She admitted and took Steven by the hand, causing him to blush and follow. When they arrived, they sat by a support beam and placed their food down.

"So...things get pretty serious tomorrow..." Steven admitted and sighed, but wasn't panicking. If anything, he felt more relaxed with Connie. He was honest with her.  
"Yeah...a battle huh? It seems only a few weeks ago we were only playing around in your mom's room..." Connie said reminiscing happily but then sighed. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to talk to him about what was on her mind. "I was actually wondering where we go from here Steven..?" She admitted.  
"Huh..? Well we just do our part in the mission and use our training..." Steven said quickly, he very well knew what Connie meant, but he still wanted to avoid this topic.  
"Steven..." Connie frowned sadly. "I want to know about us...I don't want to go to war tomorrow with you and come back without you...or you without me." She was honest and placed her hand over Steven's. As soon as her hand touched his, an image of Thean and Saif arguing flashed across his mind and caused him to unintentionally move his hand away from hers, causing Connie to immediately regret doing that. "I'm...sorry." She was about to stand up when suddenly Steven reached out for Connie.  
"No Connie, wait..." He looked up apologetically and sighed as he got up as well. "Earlier today...I saw Thean talk with a girl...and from what I saw...they were pretty close...but they argued and I guess I'm pretty shaken up about that...I just don't want to do something that would drastically change our friendship...I don't want to this to be a mistake Connie..." He looked down as he began to get teary eyed. Steven didn't know how Connie would react to his confession, but when she sat back down with him, he smiled at her decision to stay.  
"Steven...I trust you wholeheartedly. I know that you want what's best for us...I honestly wanted to...I guess move up from our friendship into...something more. But if you don't think it's a good idea right now...I trust your judgement." She sighed in defeat. A pang of guilt and regret swept through Steven's chest, causing him to stand up defiantly.  
"Connie! I want to take our friendship above and beyond...I just don't want us to end up like Thean and Saif...the way they argued...I don't want us to be like that!" He exclaimed, and Connie stood up as well.  
"Then let's not let it!" She exclaimed teary eyed like him and both of them looked into each other's eyes with a sort of determination unseen before in the other's eyes. "You're my best friend and I trust you!" She proclaimed, really hoping that she could convince him.  
"I won't but...It's a lot to think about Connie..." He sighed. "I have the same feelings...but right now, I don't think it's a good idea to be involved like that, especially with what we're going to face tomorrow." He sighed and looked away, this caused Connie to frown sadly.  
"You sound like Thean." She mumbled out loud.  
"..." Steven's eyes widened at the horrifying realization. He just caused what he dreaded wouldn't happen, a rift. He didn't realize it until Connie said it and really looked hard at their conversation. He let his fear get the better of them. He couldn't have felt any lower. He clenched his fist and noticed his tears began to fall and heard Connie sob softly behind him.  
"I'm sorry..." She apologized sincerely. "I shouldn't have said that...I was being selfish." She confessed.  
"No...you're right...I'm sorry..." He sat down next to her and held her hand. "I care about you Connie. I really do. You're my best friend and I trust you more than anyone else." He spoke softly and let Connie lay her head on his shoulder in consolation.  
"I care about you too. I just don't want to miss out on something we could have today that we won't be able to have in the future." She repeated and kissed Steven's cheek. "But we can wait." She held onto him tightly, and he did as well with her.  
"Thanks." He kissed her forehead.

For a while, they stayed like that in each other's hold, looking at the fireworks and listening to the songs being played at the party. They continued to talk about their feelings and history as friends. They were both smiling happily as they forgot about their conversation just a few moments ago.

"I think the final song of the night is about to play in a few minutes, should we get our instruments?" Connie asked.  
"Yes. I really want to know what this song sounds like." Steven said and they both got up. "Connie?" He asked.  
"Yes?" She looked to him with blushing hope.  
"When this is over...I want to take you out." He said more so than asked, causing Connie to smile and tear in joy.  
"I would very much enjoy that." She smiled and hugged him as they each went to get their instruments separately.

* * *

Steven just picked up his Ukele and made his way back to the beach and noticed that many Samaritans were standing and others were holding instruments and sitting on the sand softly. He looked to where Connie was, hoping he could sit with her. He noticed her and she waved at him and they eventually met up together. Once they caught up together they sat down together and took out the flyer they were given.

"So what song do you think this is?" She asked Steven. Before he could answer, Thean was standing behind them.  
"It's called Lazulai. Its an folk song passed down from the first Samaritans. It truly is a favorite amongst all of us." Thean said. They both looked up to see him in surprise.  
"You know this song?" Steven asked.  
"Know it? It's my favorite!" Thean said happily and nuggied him. Causing both teens to laugh.  
"What's it about?" Connie asked in interest.  
"It's about an angel of the sea. Listen to the lyrics and you'll see what I'm talking about." He said, Steven noticed that he was sitting down.  
"Are you going to dance, Thean?" He asked.  
"You bet!" He said as he began to join the rest of the standing Samaritans.

Steven and Connie looked up and noticed that Saif approached Thean. Both teens began to worry at what the sight might turn into, and Steven definitely did not want to bare witness to something like that again. They began to talk but Steven and Connie couldn't hear what they were talking about, but from the looks of it, Saif wasn't bothering Thean and he wasn't being hostile, they were just having a civil conversation. Their interaction seem to have ended and they shook hands and smiled before hugging. Steven and Connie smiled at the display, and this made Steven feel better about his relationship with Connie. He wasn't going to be like Thean. He held Connie's hand one final time and they shared one last look before everyone began to prepare to play and they quickly went to their instruments.

The song began with a soft, soothing bell ringing twice and the dancing Samaritans were moving smoothly in a synchronized fashion. Each one keeping their distance until an upbeat rhythm began to play. And almost all of them sang

Merrily _we sailed along  
_ _Though the waves were_ plenty _strong  
_ _Down the twisted Ocean blue  
_ _Following a song_

The Samaritans began to move smoothly in their own independent circle in perfect synchronization.

 _Legend's faded history  
_ _Fared a warning to us all  
_ _Oh they called her 'Lazulai'  
_ _Careful or you'll fall  
_

Many of them began to join in two's to begin form a more elegant dance with one another.

 _Oh the stories we were told  
_ _Quite a vision to behold  
_ _Mysteries of the seas  
_ _In her eyes of coal_

It was then that Steven began to understand that this song must have been about Lapis.

 _Flying through the azure skies  
Such a lonely sight  
Stormy clouds become her throne  
That poor Lazulai  
_

Steven was coming to an understanding he hadn't thought of Lapis before. Was she truly this lonely even before she was entrapped in that mirror.

 _'You won't believe what you have seen  
From her blue sky water wings  
She was born the Ocean queen  
Ne'er to grace a friend_

Steven began look to the ocean and promised himself that he would bring Lapis back and show her the friendship and kindness that she hasn't experienced. As he continued to play, the dancing looked like it was picking up rhythm and speed as were the notes on the sheets.

 _And the winds will cry  
And many men will die  
And all the waves would bow down  
To the Lazulai_

Thean was dancing with Saif and let her be his partner for this dance. He didn't think much of it. What they had was over, and he preferred to have been on good terms with the woman that was in front of him. He bore no grudge or ill will, he simply wanted Steven to see that he could get along with her, since he knew it got to him.

 _And the winds will cry  
And many men will die  
And all the waves would bow down  
To the Lazulai_

As the song was nearing its end, everyone was playing, singing, and dancing faster than all night. The intensity of the song sparked a cheer and beautiful camaraderie among everyone that it truly made the best party ever.

 _And the winds will cry  
And many men will die  
And all the waves would bow down  
To the Lazulai_

* * *

 **I have to honest with you guys, this was probably the hardest chapter i've written for this series, I debated a lot on whether some content stayed on and what got scrapped, especially since I had this song in mind for this scene for the longest time and was worried I couldn't execute it well. But for the time I have put on it, I feel comfortable with this chapter and really hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it. Also, I did my own modifications to Blackmore's Night's Loreley, but i really do think it fits with Lapis Lazuli's character.**


	12. Chapter 12

Day 6 Preparations

The following morning there was silence. Completely contrasting the events prior to the sun coming up. The only sounds audible throughout the entire city was the wind and the washing of the waves. From a bird's eye view, it could be seen that below, on the beach, many were cleaning whatever garbage left behind from the party behind. Among them, Steven was helping and looking just how calm, yet serious, the atmosphere appeared. The Samaritans who he had seen wear smiling faces and hear their laughter were now quiet and held a disciplined visage. Even his friend Thean. Who he normally associated with being talkative had conformed to the behavior around him.

Just a few days ago, Thean explained to Steven the kind of people the Samaritans consisted. At first, when the Samaritans arrived, Steven couldn't believe how such people with dark pasts could be smiling and cheerful. It was now with the nearing battle that Steven realized that his expectations of the Samaritans were made real. This people had nothing to smile about. Soon they would be risking their lives for the entire world. They had their fun and games, now they were behaving like the grown soldiers they trained to be. As the beach was finally cleaned, Steven noticed that many Jeeps were driving down to the beach. Once parked, some Samaritans got out of the vehicles and dismounted heavy looking cylinder barrels and began to place them throughout the beach. Actually, not placing, but burying them in the sand. They dug holes and just dropped them, as well as beginning to set up several mines throughout the sand but stopped at a certain point. They lined them the mines throughout the spearhead of the beach that pointed into the ocean.

Steven began to wonder where Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were until he saw them walking out of the temple with a bunch of the bubbled up Gems floating around them. He was about to call out to them until he saw the same look of seriousness that the rest of the Samaritans were carrying and chose not to intervene. He at first wondered why they were taking all the gems from the temple out. And then he remembered that it was for Thean's secret 'Ark' plan.

Once done they drove several meters back inland in the beach and began to set up thick shining sheets. Steven guessed they were going to serve as a wall of protection. They seemed to have been five feet in height, and were all lined up in a single line, all metallic sheets connected perfectly and stood still. Steven noticed that there was several more Samaritans moving down into the beach and some were moving back inland. Thean tapped Steven's shoulder.

"It's time." He said and turned to Juba and Ivan who were putting on very thick looking red armor. Presumably from the material made from the Red-Eye. Steven nodded and both giants turned to look at Steven and Thean and waved their final goodbye to them and even gave them thumbs up.  
"Good luck you guys!" Steven yelled hopeful and then him and Thean began to walk away.  
"We will do our best little comrade!"  
"We'll give them a hell of a hard time!" They both exclaimed and many more red armored Kneyeghts flooded the small portion of the beach with heavy and powerful rifles and shotguns. Some even carried bladed and clubbed weapons. As they began to walk back, other Samaritans began to place mines down, officially making their return impossible until the battle ended. Thean took out his phone and called Bill.  
"The Red Kneyeghts are in position...yes, all three hundred of them." Steven decided not to look back, as he felt he was going to have somewhat of an emotional fall. He wanted, no needed to be strong. He was adapting into his role as a hero, and he could not let himself be slowed down simply because he was nervous. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists to concentrate.  
"Where will Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl be?" Steven asked, finally feeling ready to talk about the battle. Thean ended his call with Bill.  
"Garnet and Pearl will be up the hillside with rifled infantry taking aim at the gems that will come from the beach and carry out volley's from there. Amethyst volunteered to be with the rest of the Samaritans in the town to keep morale up." Thean explained.  
"Humans can't really fight with gems at close combat...can they?" Steven asked. "What's going to happen when they break through the Red Kneyeghts and passed the second set of mines?"  
"You're right, once they reach the town, it is only a matter of time before they'll begin to rush through the streets. Instead, we're going to booby trap some parts of the city and attack with ambush, most of the Samaritans will be in the sewers and make their way from building through building through intricate underground tunnels, some will be hidden on rooftops." Thean explained cleverly.  
"You guys really thought this through, haven't you?" Steven asked.  
"You have no idea."

They managed to get back into town where some buses were picking up the citizens of Beach City. Bill was acting as mayor and claiming that it was state protocol to do this every once a few decades. Although some were hesitant, they got on the bus anyway, figuring out that something serious was probably going to happen like a few months ago when Steven urged them to leave. Steven and Thean spotted Bill talking to Buck, who was as always his nonchalant self.

"Now, my boy. Your mother expects you to be on your best behavior. Please give her my regards." Bill said as he was making sure his son was well dressed and overall safe, even wiping off some dust from his shoulders.  
"Okay dad, I know. It's not going to be a big deal, I'm only going to be away for the weekend." Buck said ignorantly. Not knowing how quickly this weekend would change the town. But Bill had no intention of passing on his worries to his son.  
"I know, but I just want you to be safe..." Bill paused. He really wanted Buck to have some interest in this goodbye with him. He wasn't so sure he would even be here when he came back. "I love you, my boy." He smiled and pulled Buck in for a tight hug, surprising him.  
"Uhm...dad?" He asked, now in concern.  
"No matter what, know that I'm always proud of you." He said and Buck smiled before pulling back.  
"Thanks dad." He smiled and got on the bus.

Steven smiled at the sight and looked over to his dad and smiled.  
"You be careful, Stu-ball. It's not everyday your son is prepared to fight for humanity." He said jokingly with the best intention.  
"I know, but don't worry dad. I'm not going to be alone. I'll be back." Steven assured and jumped up to hug his dad.  
"I know you will. And when all this is over, you bet your gem that I'm having you all to myself for a while, ok?" He said with his upbeat attitude.  
"I promise dad." He said and pinky promised his dad. Greg put Steven down and turned to face Thean.  
"Thean...thank you for training and keeping my son safe." Greg said and held his out to him.  
"It's been a pleasu-*" As Thean reached in for the handshake, Greg pulled him into a tight bear hug.  
"You think that I was just going to leave with just a handshake and thank you? No siree, you've made an impact on us, and you bet that you're invited with Steven to hang out when this is over." Greg said. At that moment, Thean felt something he hadn't felt in fourteen years. The warm embrace of a father. Thean was shocked at first, but his lip began to quiver and he slowly shed a tear and hugged Greg back. Steven smiled and joined in on the hug and both grown men hugged the young teen boy.  
"That would be amazing!" Thean said excitedly, feeling as part of this family.

* * *

 _Later that day_

Once all the residents of Beach City left, minus the Maheswarans, the final parts of the plans were being set in motion and in the lighthouse, The Crystal Gems, the Maheswarans, Steven, Bill, and Thean were gathered.

"Are you both ready?" Bill asked, with the Maheswarans looking on in wonder at the thought of Fusion, this being the first time watching their daughter do it.  
"Yes." Steven and Connie said together and held hands as they did a small, innocent, and playful dance before both lighting up brightly. Bill, Thean, and the Maheswarans were bearing witness to Fusion. From the blinding light emerged a figure, clad in a mixture of the armor of the fallen, bearing masculine and feminine qualities, at their hips, two different things were held. Rose's Sword in it's scabbard, and the Racket that Steven had given Connie.  
"Amazing." Her parents said and smiled, and Connie's side of Stevonnie smiled and hugged their parents.  
"Alright." Bill began. Are you guys sure you can sleep and dream while fused?"  
"Definitely." They said and lied down.  
"Remember, concentrate and look for Malachite's location." Thean reminded.  
"Gotcha." They said and closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

At first there was darkness and Stevonnie. They were alone, yet with each other and looked around. Nothing. They took a deep breath and began to feel themselves falling from the sky. Both of them screamed as they fell before realizing they weren't going to hit anything. They free-fell for what seemed like hours and total blackness. Suddenly, a splash was heard and a wet sensation engulfed them. They quickly held their breath as long as they could before coughing for air and realizing they could still breath. They just floated now in a green colored environment. Looking around they, tried to see anything that could serve as a pattern to where they were. So far, they weren't able to spot any sea life just yet, just an abyssal plain.

They continue to float until they both began to swim around to looking for Malachite. Several times they thought that they saw her, until they noticed that they were the distant shadows of large whales. Steven knew that Malachite looked significantly bigger and more menacing than any animal in the world. Land or sea dwelling. They began to swim further down into the depths and both couldn't help but to smile at the beauty of the ocean. Though the depths were initially dark green, their gem began to glow to brighten their way and lit up to their amazement an amazing sight of fish, coral, seahorses, crabs, and many more bottom feeders. Stevonnie smiled and laughed as several fish began to swim around them and tickle them gently. They began to swim quickly along the the floor and began to enjoy themselves more and more. They enjoyed their selves for a while longer, until they noticed many boats lying at the bottom of the ocean floor. They swam closer to inspect them. Their eyes widened.

"These are trollers...and skipjacks. These kind of boats are only for fishing and fast moving..." They pondered and looked for more clues. "Boats like these easily come out from Delmarva. You said she locked herself into the sea from the beach right? Yes." They both continued exploring. "It would make sense if she dragged herself further out to sea to the East. We just need to find an organism that's exclusive to this area. So far all these fish are common sea creatu-" They both were interrupted by the sound of something moving fast through the ocean.

They looked up to see Malachite swimming quickly through the water. But she didn't notice them. She just swam as if struggling with herself. Losing complete control of herself, her face and body contorted in inhuman and painful looking. Her arms twisting at uneven angles, he face disorienting itself as if one part was trying to escape the other. Stevonnie was debating whether they should intervene yet. Steven's side wanted to go and immediately help Lapis and Jasper unfuse to ease their suffering. Connie however narrowed their eyes and saw that in the distance an eel like fish swimming through the ocean floor. They quickly swam to it and as if noticing, the fish began to swim away. Behind them both Malachite was attempting to chase them as well, albeit struggling. One preventing total control from the other and one deadset on attacking. Stevonnie tried to stay a few strokes ahead of Malachite as she began to move faster. The fish made a sharp turn toward a cave one of the sunken skipjacks and Stevonnie moved to it as well. Malachites size didn't allow her to move as sharply as them, and due to her struggling movements crash harshly down into the ocean floor. Stevonnie continued to keep up with the fish until they entered the skipjack and they cornered it and grabbed it gently by the neck. They noticed that the fish was as long as their arm.

"What is it?! I'm trying to figure it out!" They struggled and panicked, knowing that Malachite could find them any second. The fighting of the fish in their hands didn't help either as it tried to slime its way out. Once they managed to get a full look at the head they gasped. "Well?! It's an Atlantic Wolf Fish! This fish is native only to the east of Beach City, meaning we're somewhere in the-" Before they finished their sentence, the roof of the sunken skipjack was torn open and they saw Malachite glaring down at them. Out of fear, both of them let go of the wolf fish and tried to get themselves to wake up. But found themselves unable to, Malachite brought her fist down harshly toward them.

* * *

 _Gasp!_

"Give them space!"  
"They need air."

They both heard and looked around them and saw the faces of fear plastered on those previously in the room. Thean stepped forward to help them up.

"Are you ok?" He began to ask.  
"The Sohm Abyssal Plain!" They exclaimed loudly. "That's where she is. It's far away enough from Beach City for it to have been safe, but close enough to it that skipjacks, trollers, and Wolf Fish appear!" They said. Everyone looked amazed as they stood up gently. Bill quickly placed the location they mentioned on their GPS and with satellite help tried to detect any abnormalities in the are, and sure enough, there seemed to have been violent waves and sounds occurring there.  
"Alright, we located her location. Are you sure you're up to doing this?" Bill asked as he handed them the device.  
"Of course we are." They said confidently as Thean handed them the recorder. "We were trained well." They said to everyone in the room.  
"It seems you're not going to be alone either." Garnet smiled and nodded toward Lion, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.  
"Lion!" Stevonnie smiled and hugged the pink feline.  
"You two be careful ok?" Mrs. Maheswaran said.  
"You keep my girl safe got it?" Her dad warned.  
"No problem." They said together and mounted Lion and bubbled themselves. "We'll be back." They said finally and Lion roared a portal in front of them and jumped them through into the ocean. Leaving behind a very proud group.

* * *

With the departure of Stevonnie and Lion, everyone began to go to their assigned locations. Garnet and Pearl toward the hill behind the temple. And Amethyst and the Maheswarans back towards the town. Thean and Bill were walking to a bunker behind the city limits and began to make their way underground.

"What is it you wanted to show me?" Thean asked. "I have to at the Ark soon." He told Bill.  
"Hold your horses, my friend. It is a surprise. Besides, it is already in it." Bill said. "I asked the Elders to give me brief access to the Ark quickly." He explained.  
"And they let you?" Thean scoffed jokingly in disbelief.  
"Well, I of course had to insist and constantly ask. But they granted me the access." He smiled.

They continued to walk for a while. More than twice the size of the the entire City, until they reached a locked door that Thean was granted access with, along with Bill. Once inside, there was a large control room with a table at the center that held weapons and a brand new armor.

"Surprise!" Bill exclaimed. Thean, surprised, walked forward toward the table and looked at the armor. It resembled his current SWAT like armor, only it looked lighter, and more durable, with several weapons already installed in it. "I based it off of your current armor, only this is made out of light metals as plates with a graphene serving as an extra, thinner layer of protection, and a tight fitted fabric made of the most durable materials. Don't worry, your shouldered missile pads are still there and carry six in each one."  
"How efficiently can I move in it?" Thean asked as he continued to examine the suit.  
"Not to worry, the lightweight materials should allow you to move twenty two percent faster than your current suit." Bill smiled. Knowing he outdid himself in the design of the suit with a six pointed star at the center of it. The symbol of the Samaritans.  
"And for facial protection?" Thean asked.  
"That I am the most proud of." Bill said and he took out the helmet of the suit. Some of it was made of the same tight fabric but the facial part of the helmet was what caught his attention the most. "I wondered 'What could possibly make Thean look as menacing as he is deadly?' And then I thought, the more primal the look, the better. And what is more primal than a skull?" Bill asked as Thean took hold of the mask and looked at the design. The eyes of the skull were made to look like they were in a permanent frown, there was no lower jaw, but the design of the upper teeth were sharp.  
"Bill...You outdid yourself!" Thean said excitedly as he hugged his friend in gratitude. "This will definitely help me in the fight. I won't let you or anyone else down." He said.  
"Thean...I know you. I know you want to challenge Emerald...and I know I can't stop you." Bill sighed but hugged back anyway. "But just know. She doesn't stand a chance with these upgrades." Bill smirked and let go of Thean and slapped his comrade in the back. "Good luck."  
"Same to you. Mayor." Thean joked and Bill laughed as the door closed behind him. Leaving Thean to put on his new armor and prepare his weapons in place.

* * *

 _The Kindergarten_

"Stupid clods...I'll show them..." A lonely Peridot was making her way through the rubble of what used to be the base of a successful colony. "Go to Earth they said. It will be easy. Take Jasper and the informant, renegade gem with you." She complained and began to rummage through the ground as she made her way through the ground until she finally found what she was looking for. "Finally, this archaic computer!" She exclaimed and began to take control of the system. She quickly began to look for any communication with Homeworld. At first, the screen was just static until another Peridot appeared on screen.  
"Who is this?" The Homeworld Peridot asked.  
"I am Peridot Facet-2X5L Cut-5XG. I am requesting back up in one of Earth's kindergartens." She exclaimed in hope. There was some more static once more. "Oh! You stupid hunk of junk!" She said angrily and smacked the screen until another image appeared. Yellow Diamond. "MY DIAMOND!" She exclaimed and looked apologetically.  
"I will assume that was a miscommunication error. Anyway. I have some orders for you and I want you to carry them out regardless of your situation. You are to reactivate the Gem mutations and injectors. Do not worry as they should be under full control since we last left them there. You are to take command of them temporarily and take them to where your ship crashed. There, you will lay siege to whatever life forms you happen to come across. Am I clear?" Diamond asked much to the surprise of Peridot. "Am I clear?" Yellow Diamond asked with a more severe tone, causing Peridot to shake in fear.  
"Yes my Diamond!" She said.  
"Good. You will be rewarded handsomely." Yellow Diamond gave a dark smirk and ended the transmission.  
"..." Peridot looked around and began to make some adjustments with the archaic computer in front of her. Truthfully, she had no idea what was going to happen other than the rules she was given of laying siege. Peridots weren't soldiers or commanders, just communication experts and ship operators. She wasn't used to carrying out violent actions. But an order was an order.

* * *

 **What's this? Peridot is actually in the story?! Did we almost skip over?! I think not! Another chapter down and I am still hoping you guys are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing this. And the wait is nearly over as the next chapter is FULL OUT WAR! Brace yourself kids.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So sorry, I accidentally re posted the previous chapter as this one for a few hours and just realized a while ago, i accidentally saved this chapter as an xdoc when it should have been as story. I'm so sorry you opened up the chapter hoping to see war and have seen a repeated chapter, that was a mistake on my part. But now here is the real chapter, please enjoy.**

* * *

Day 7: 2000-800

It was early in the morning, and every Samaritan had a feeling of what was going to happen that day. Those at the front lines of the beach wore cold, hardened expressions. Those in the hill were taking deep, controlled breaths, and those in the city were simply silent. At the top of the Lighthouse were two flags. One of a pink Pink rose with thorns serving as crossbones, and the other of a golden six pointed star with a blue backdrop. Symbolizing the alliance of the Crystal Gems, and the Samaritans. Each intently focusing on their weapons.

Bill was in his mayoral office, in front of several highly advanced computers. He monitored a large portion of the each sections of the beach, ready to activate certain traps, and to survey the battle and command it from where he was. Below him, a keyboard that allowed him to switch viewpoints throughout the city, from the beach, to the city, to the temple. One screen in particular he was watching with great intent. It was one that looked for any anomalies in the reaches of space. He looked for heat signatures, sudden movements, and even exhaust trails, nothing. Yet.

Garnet was looking up at the sky, and was calculating every possible outcome of this battle, many of them emerging victorious, others with severe losses, and some where they lost. In each one, she kept her cool and managed to focus in the sky, awaiting the return of Homeworld. It had been long since she fought other gems. And she wasn't so sure if they were ready at all for whatever technological advancements they had. Her hands held each other, clearly Sapphire and Ruby comforting themselves, even in the darkest of times.

Amethyst as the youngest Crystal Gem wasn't all that sure about the battle just yet. This would be her first true experience with Homeworld Gems. She knew that Rose, Garnet, and Pearl participated in the war prior to meeting her. From what she gathered of their stories, Homeworld was ruthless when it came to battle with the Crystal Gems. That they were pretty even at the time. That it was a maelstrom of chaos and destruction that they managed to win. She felt as though this would be her first true test to show her friends what she was capable of. She had the determination to prove to them that she could handle this war, like they have in the past.

Pearl felt a sort of sadness at the moment. It had been a very long time since she had been in battle with others. And the last time that happened, she was with Rose. Her Rose. Even now, she couldn't help but shed a silent tear in memory of her General. She missed her dearly. Not only as a friend, but as a guiding force. Pearl still hadn't put her complete faith in human beings. Without the support and caring words of Rose to soothe her, she sighed. But what she did have faith in was Steven, and what Rose believed in. There was not a shadow of a doubt that she would not fight to repeating deaths to ensure that Rose's ideals and sacrifices were in vain.

* * *

Many Millions of miles away in space, a large ship was heading toward earth at high speeds. The Homeworld warship was, in the form of a beautiful woman with many arms, and behind the left eye, stood Yellow Diamond. One of the three remaining monarchs of Homeworld. She looked at the screen on display that was on the iris of the eye of the ship. She looked at several statistics on the screen for the battle ahead. Going by what Emerald has shown of what the single eyed human was capable of, Yellow Diamond knew that Earth was no longer a primitive planet that they conquered millennia ago. This only meant that the challenge would have been all the better.

"My Diamond." Emerald made her presence in the room apparent. Yellow Diamond, however, didn't turn, but did acknowledge her.  
"Speak." She commanded still surveying footage from Emeralds scout ship of when she was on Earth a week ago.  
"Our troops are prepared for combat, they've all their weapons prepared. The Pearl's advancements of the arm cannons have made them become even more combat effective than before." Emerald informed.  
"I know. I was informed not long ago." Yellow Diamond said as she finally turned to Emerald. "The Human race has significantly evolved. Just enough to think it can do something against Gems. It is still a rock with organic life in it. It still poses no real challenge." She smirked and Emerald nodded in return.  
"What will my orders be, my Diamond?" Emerald asked eagerly. Emerald wanted nothing more than to have the satisfaction of killing that human that survived their fight.  
"Patience my Emerald. You will not participate in the battle." Yellow Diamond said, much to Emerald's surprise.  
"B-but my Diamo-" She began to protest.  
"Silence!" The monarch demanded. "I cannot have a warrior with some personal grudge in the battlefield. You shall stay within the ship and make sure other gems run the ship efficiently after our victory. I shall look down on the battle field and what this ship to run smoothly. Two Hundred of Gems will remain in the ship and you will be in charge of whatever goes throughout the ship. Do I make myself clear?" Yellow Diamond asked with a voice that just dared Emerald to speak out of turn. Emerald quickly fixed her expression from eager to obedient.  
"Yes my Diamond." She nodded.  
"You're dismissed." Yellow Diamond ordered. Emerald walked away from the monarch and when turned frowned.

* * *

As Bill surveyed the monitor that surveyed space, an alarm began to sound off as the a large, fast moving object appeared on the screen. Bill quickly pressed a button that connected to a microphone to the where every Samaritan and Crystal Gem could hear.

"They're here! Everyone look alive! A fast moving object is approaching the earth! I repeat! They! Are! Here!" He yelled frantically into the microphone.

Everyone held tightly onto their weapons and looked on into the skies and sure enough, a giant humanoid shape could be seen approaching Earth at mach speed with no sign of slowing down. Many were silently praying, others were focusing their sights at the object. The skies were giving off a crackling and hissing sound, the speed of the object entering the atmosphere at such a velocity that the air particles were burning around it.

"Prepare for impact!" Bill said as everyone ducked and prepared for a possible crash, only for none of it to come.

Everyone looked up at the giant ship floating in the middle of the sky. Everyone's jaws dropped at the sight. The shape just stopped in midair. Moments ago it was approaching at near blinding speed but now it was completely still. Everyone was silent, looking up at the ship shaped like multi armed Goddess. For a while, nothing was happening. The ship was completely still and at staring down at the town. Suddenly, many of its arms began to extend toward the shore with its fingers out.

Faster than anticipated, the fingers shot out of the hand and splashed into the waters just offshore the sand. The Red Kneyeghts quickly took cover behind the steel palisades they set up the day before.

"Hold!" Ivan yelled as the Red Kneyeghts began to sweat heavily, having not seen any enemy infantry yet to fire upon. All of them knowing full well that no weapons could pierce whatever finger pods just splashed on shore. Juba kept a close eye on any movement the shore could have had.

 _SHOOF_

Something was heard and bounced off of the Juba's armor, staggering him slightly. It appeared as a travelling short beam of light being shot from somewhere. As their moment of confusion, many gems began to rush out of the water at quick speeds. Many resembling Pearl, which were the fastest moving infantry on foot, others had a very large and muscular build, like Jasper, others were smaller, but able to keep up. All were of different colorful shades, rushing the beach.

"Open fire!" Juba shouted and his command went off. The Red Kneyeghts fired their assault rifles at the incoming Gems.

The barrage of bullets quickly downed many of the rushing Gems, but showed no signs of them stopping. Many of Gems were shot in areas above the waist and quickly retreated into their gems to regenerate. Those who resembled Pearls and Alabasters moving so swiftly throughout the beach that it appeared as though they were _dancing_ away from the bullets.

The charge of the Homeworld Gems did not seem to slow down at all, many kept rushing forward with intent looks on their face. Just as the first row of Red Kneyeght's emptied their first magazines, several of the approaching Gems smirked and started to sprint.

 _PEHEEEW_

Many of the Gems rushed into the first of the mines so quickly that it took many of those behind them seconds to realize the booby trap and by when they stopped, they shooting ducks. Juba and Ivan smirked and the second and third row of Red Kneyeghts stepped forward to aim their shots, Juba signaled Pearl and Garnet from the hill behind the the Temple to take aim. Garnet prepared to fire her rocket gauntlets down at the beach, and Pearl charged up her spear to shoot them down.

"Fire!"

The Red Kneyeghts and Samaritans in the hills fired their weapons in a massive volley of bullets that completely took the Homeworld Gems by surprise, causing more of them to fall. Many of them were still standing in shock from their falling comrades but quickly took aim at the Red Kneyeghts and shot their light cannons at them, which simply deflected from their armor. Many of them fell to Garnet's exploding gauntlets and Pearls dispersing light attacks.

* * *

From his mayoral office, Bill sighed in relief at the success of their initial strategy. He noticed how of the other Gems were still Managing to avoid the bullets swiftly. He smirked and looked at one of the buttons on his keyboards.

"Dodge this."

* * *

As many of the Homeworld Gems were dodging the barrage of bullets, many of the metallic cylinders that were planted a day earlier sprang from the sand. The top of it opened to reveal unmanned grenade turrets that fired at the sides and exploded against several of the dodging Gems.

"Agh!" Many of them yelled in brief pain as they were not poofed, but rather their gems were completely disintegrated because of the blast.

"Fall back!"

"Regroup!"

"Retreat!"

Many of the Homeworld Gems yelled out amongst the beach and began to go back into the waters to the finger pods for safety. Even as they ran, they were still being shot down and once there weren't anymore in sight, the Red Kneyeght's gave a loud, victorious shout.

"Welcome to Earth!" Many yelled and laughed at the success of their tactics.

* * *

"My Diamond...that was a full on assault of 800...how were they able to stop our advances..?" A frightened Pearl asked. Her fear did not stem from the enemy, but rather the reaction that her Diamond might have had to the situation.

Yellow Diamond studied the beach layout of the beach. She was not one to really make strategies when conquering planets. Afterall, Gems were a highly dangerous race that was not known for loss. Usually during invasions, Gems rushed head first into combat and would exceed against any army, but this was certainly different. She was adamant not to have placed her units inside the city yet. She knew her army was capable of doing it. She stood up and petted her Pearl, who purred into the touch in surprise and infatuation.

"It matters not. We simply underestimated these curs. But rest assured, we will get past this minor obstacle, and they will fall." She said with such smooth and calming confidence. "In fact, our next action will surely break them." Yellow Diamond smiled down at the blushing Pearl.

* * *

Samaritans: 2000.  
Homeworld Gems: 694.


	14. Chapter 14

**Warning! The following chapter contains graphic content, if you have a weak stomach to disembodiment, blood, and gore, do not read. This is a warning to those who don't fare well with descriptions of carnage. Read at your own risk, and enjoy this late chapter.**

* * *

Falling Back

* * *

 _Inside the Ark_

Thean was sitting in front of the control room of the 'Ark.' Fully clad in his new, much lighter armor. The texture and tightness of the materials it was made of was much more comfortable than his last set. It also allowed him to move slightly faster than the previous one with better ability to reach for any of his weapons with swift ease. In front of him was a radio that connected him to Bill, awaiting for his instructions to launch the Ark into the Gem Warship. As Thean sat in his chair, he could not help but wonder about the bubbled up Gems. He knew that some of them, from the footage they've gotten over the last few years, that many of them were dangerous. Each had a specific strength, as well as weaknesses.

Thean stood up from his seat to go look at the Bubbled up Gems that were contained in small glass casings embedded in the wall of the Ark. Overall, Thean estimated for there to have a little over a hundred corrupt Gems. As he moved through the rather small, yet compact ship, he noticed a box. Knowing that there should not have been anything else besides him, and the bubbled up Gems, Thean took out his Gem Destabilizing sword with his right hand, and took out a new automatic, chromium CZ75 in his left. He aimed his gun at the box. Why would there be cargo on an invasive ship? Thean wondered as he approached the box. As he moved closer, he could see slight movement from it. Acting quickly, Thean kicked the box at the edge, sending the piece of cardboard to the side and aiming his pistol down at the figure that was hiding this whole time.

"Don't shoot!" Exclaimed the lean, small Indian man.

"Ranjeet?! What the heck are you doing here? How did you get in here?" Thean asked as he put his weapons away and helped Ranjeet up his feet.

"I overheard your plan with the Elders the other day, and I knew I could not let a comrade engage a dangerous mission alone." Ranjeet explained.

"Yes, but how did you get in, the doors were secured with a password and failsafe to sound off if anyone else got in." Thean pointed out.

"Ah, you underestimate my skills, good friend. I've certainly broken many locks, digital ones are not so hard." Ranjeet smirked.

"You know you can't be here, Ran. This mission is for me only." Thean protested.

"I know, but no use in returning now, the battle has begun, and we're several miles below sea level, I'm here whether you like it or not." Ran said as he strode passed Thean and picked up the box and used it as a makeshift seat. "I'll help you set up those explosives, this way it will be easier, and we can get out quicker."

"Ran, I don't like this. The Elders chose me for this specific part in the battle." Thean kept trying to convince his friend in vain about his worries.

"Thean, with your skills and mine, we'll be able to do this plan in half the time. Besides, it is too late to get out. All we have to do now is wait our turn." Ran smirked in victory as he laid back.

"Damn it." Thean sighed in defeat and went back to sit in his chair in the control room.

* * *

 _Homeworld Warship_

Yellow Diamond was looking down on Beach City with a mildly annoyed expression. She was rather surprised at any organic beings having somewhat successfull tactics against Gems. Let alone human beings. This was not so much as a threat as it was an annoyance to her. She saw nothing of it when many of her own were gunned down, exploded, or shattered. Gems were after all, replaceable. She was looking at surveying the battle field and knew that more mines must have been laid throughout the beach shore. She quickly pressed a button that placed her on the speaker of to the Gem pods that were on the Beach.

"My soldiers, how dare you fail your monarch so easily?" She questioned menacingly. "All I asked was for a simple blitzkrieg. A short battle. A swift victory. Yet you, my subjects, deny me this luxury." As she spoke to her troops, many of them looked in worry and fear of what she would do to them if failing to please. "You force me to take command of you, and to think I had such faith in any of you, truly disgusts me." She said rather bored.

The Gems in the pods were visibly shaking at the possible disappointment of their Monarch. They knew fully well of the punishments that came with failing to live up to a Diamond's expectations. Many heard stories of Gems that were forced into their forms and encased in metals and worn as trophies, never capable of escaping. Others were shattered and fused on the remains of other shattered Gems. And quite possibly the most horrific one, could have been being thrown in a spiked pit, where there was room to reform, but every time one did, they would fall back onto the spikes, repeating an agonizing torture for eternity.

Yellow Diamond took her hand off of the button and thought to herself. These humans certainly posed a nuisance to her at the moment, but with a well calculated plan, her Gems would be able to push through their defenses easily. If she remembered correctly, many of those of the Quartz category were capable of rolling out at high velocity, this gave her an idea. She smirked and she pressed the button that connected her once more to the Gem pods.

"My warriors." She said as they all froze to pay attention to their monarch.

* * *

"Yeah!"

As the Red Kneyeghts were cheering at their momentary victory, Jabu turned to his comrade, Ivan and raised his fist to his and bumped it.

"We did it my Comrade." Jabu exclaimed in victory.

"Don't be quick to declare victory, you sore turumu." Jested Ivan. "Don't forget our purpose in this plan."

"Oh come off it, cyka." Jabu countered. "We must celebrate each victory, you never know when we won't be able to-"

"Look!" A Red Kneyeght exclaimed as he pointed with his rifle toward the shore.

Jabu and Ivan turned quickly to what looked like many wheels spinning out of the water, in their direction, at high speeds.

"A head on assault?" Jabu asked as he signaled the Red Kneyeghts to prepare to fire.

"No commander would make this strategy unless they knew it would work." Ivan spoke with a serious tone as he and his men readied their weapons.

"Fire!" Both Ivan and Jabu exclaimed powerfully as many rounds fired into the beach.

The Homeworld Gem Quartz were spin dashing straight into the mines, moving fast enough that once they were triggered, they were able to move passed the explosions. Some survived pushing through. Others were not fast enough and went down along with the explosions, shattering their gems in the process. And many more were shot down by the barrage of bullets heading their way, many of which were hit mid spin, tripped, and fell face first into into a mine. And to many other's amazement, some ganged up on the turrets and completely smashed them, causing explosions that took some of the Quartz down. In a matter of minutes, all their grenade turrets were destroyed.

"Keep firing!" Jabu yelled in exasperation as the Quartz began to get closer and closer to wall of steel that served as their protection.

 _HEWWPH PFF_

Ivan and Jabu turned to one side of the wall and saw that a Gem Quartz broke through it like paper and fell forward in front of the Red Kneyeghts.

"Augh!" She tiredly gave a yell of fury before a Red Kneyeght shot her with a combat shotgun in the shoulder, she staggered backwards but her form didn't retreat as she stood up once more, this time the soldier shot along the jaw, still, she didn't fall. Once more this time to her forehead and caused her to retreat into her gem finally. The soldier then shot the gem among the sand, shattering it.

Ivan and Jabu was astonished just at how much it took to kill a gem, even at point blank. Many of the soldiers on that side of the wall quickly made sure to protect that position as it gave the enemy an opening. Jabu quickly tried to reload his ammunition along with the rest of the Red Kneyeghts. Just as more Quartz were about to approach the wall, to flying fists fell on them like thunder and caused them to poof. Ivan looked behind him and saw that Garnet had projected her gauntlets at the Homeworld Gems luckily enough.

"Fire!" Pearl ordered the riflemen to shoot down the incoming Quartz as they kept spin-dashing.

"Give them hell!" A Red Kneyeght yelled in excitement.

Ivan and Jabu continued to fire at the Quartz but quickly saw that they changed their formations. rather than spin toward the wall, they were now spinning from side to side in circles where the mines were. However, they were able to avoid the volley of bullets heading their way. Ivan focused his between the gaps of circles they were forming and could see another group of Gems running forward. His eyes went wide as he saw that the much faster Gems that resembled Pearl were coming in fast behind the circle created by the Quartz gems.

"Keep firing! Keep firing!"

As Jabu yelled his orders, the Quartz gems quickly stopped spinning in a circle and knelt down facing the Red Kneyeght's direction, with their backs elevated. The fast running Gems used the backs of the Quartz as stepping stones to jump high into the air. Jabu and Ivan saw this and were completely astonished by what they saw. The Gems that were in midair were free-falling towards the Red Kneyeghts. The Quartz Gems in return began to spin in place once more before blasting towards the metallic wall that protected the Red Kneyeghts.

Jabu and Ivan, along with the Red Kneyeghts were not sure about who to fire at. The Gems in the air, or the incoming Quartz. With a desperation to quickly take control of his comrades, Ivan shouted:

"Fire at will!"

And just as the Red Kneyghts were about to follow that order, the Quartz Gems ripped through the metal wall with ease and kept spinning as they ran down many of their comrades into the ground like bugs under the wheels of a car. As the Red Kneyeghts were about to fire at the Quartz gems, the Gems that were once in the air came down on them with their spears, swords, knives, and war axes in hand falling down the the heads of the Red Kneyeghts, crimson liquids spurting out from where their heads used to be. Jabu and Ivan looked at each other and nodded as they reloaded their rifles took out their Red Eye made weapons gave out battle cries.

* * *

A Red Kneyeght looked on in fear as one of her comrades was torn apart easily by a massive Quartz gem, who was now targeting her with the grin a predator gave its prey in before the kill. The Red Kneyeght began to panic and fired off her rifle repeatedly against the Quartz gem, who used her muscular arm to guard her face so it wouldn't hit her in the eye. The Red Kneyeght had emptied her Magazine too quickly, but was still pulling her trigger in fear. She soon realized her mistake and quickly tried to reload her rifle. Just as she did, the Quartz Gem took hold of her head with her massive hand, a grunt of suffocation could be heard from within. The Quartz gem smirked as she began to squeeze the skull of her enemy, the grunt turning into a moan of pain. The Red Kneyeght, with her dying breath reached for her waist and pulled the pin off of something, the Quartz Gem looked in confusion but an explosion went off and her whole limb was taken along with her, she screamed in pain before being retreated into her gem.

Another was trying to take down as many as he could as they approached him, the fast moving Tourmalines were dodging his bullets with mocking ease. He gave a yell of desperation and battle as they approached him. A Tourmaline moved in on him with her foot kicking up and completely smashed his face from his upper jaw inward. His comrade next to him gasped and fired at the Gem, who sidestepped the bullets and stabbed him with her spear, as the Red Kneyeght yelled in pain, another Gem of different color stabbed him in the back with her own spear. The man coughed up blood as he panicked from the pain.

A Quartz Gem was spinning so fast that when she hit a Red Kneyeght, he entire body exploded from the impact of her velocity. When the Quartz stopped spinning, she looked around her and noticed she was covered in a red paste of organic fluids, some chunks of organ, flesh and bone clung to her body in a sticky manner.

Although many of them feared the brutality of their opponents, none of them backed away, using their fear and adrenaline, they gave a large battle cry and continued to fight back against the Homeworld Gems.

Jabu tried to shoot down as many of the Gem Quartz as he could with a combat shotgun, aiming for their heads or where ever their gems were visible to bring them down faster. As he continued to move about in the beach, several of the smaller, but faster Gems approached him with spears and swords. He quickly fired at them and they scattered away from the shot with ease. He continued firing at them and still missing them until he ran out of ammunition. He threw away his empty combat shotgun and took out a large, Red Sledgehammer made of the same material as the Red Eye, and took swing at them, missing them. He could hear their laughter as they taunted him. As he kept swinging, the Gems were poking at him with their sharp weapons, discovering cracks in his armor and piercing his body there.

"Augh!" Jabu grunted in pain. He began to sweat as he continued to over exert himself in trying to shatter them. In frustration, he swung blindly and he hit a Quartz gem in the head, causing her to poof, he panted in tired victory and knelt down before the Gems rushed him and began to stab him violently through the cracks in his armor. He smiled as he felt he fulfilled his purpose to keep beach city safe.

* * *

Amongst the fighting, it was clear to those on the hill that the Homeworld Gems in close quarter combat were superior regardless of armor. As they looked on below, they became frightened for two things. The first being that their comrades were being slaughtered below them, and second, they couldn't fire down in fear that their blood would be in their hands.

"What do we do?!"

"If we shoot down, we'll certainly hit them."

"If we don't do anything, they're dead anyway!"

Garnet was listening to them all as she heard the panic of the soldiers around her. She immediately thought of Rose. She knew that her commander would never allow her troops to fear the enemy. Fear lead to panic, and panic lead to easy targets. She knew she needed to make a quick decision, the Samaritans needed order with her so she blasted one of her gauntlets to the still incoming gems that still hadn't made it to the wall. It was a direct hit. Those on the hill, including Pearl, looked up to her.

"Listen up!" She spoke with power behind her voice. "We can't watch our allies be killed and we can't just stand here and worry, what we need to do is ACT, not react. Take your fire and try to buy the Red Kneyeghts as much time as you can by shooting the Gems that haven't made it to them yet." She ordered.

"Yes Ma'm!" They yelled in unison and aimed their rifles once more to the oncoming Gems. Pearl in turn used followed Garnets orders and kept on blasting energy bolts at her enemy.

* * *

Bill looked on in horror as he saw the Red Kneyeghts get picked off one by one through the monitors in front of him. He reached his hand out, in an attempt to help and protect them. Bill cried as he saw one fall after the other. He couldn't even cheer for when they did manage to bring a gem down. He knew this was going to happen, he planned this, and to see it enacted broke his heart. He bowed his head in shame and sniffed. Suddenly, his walkie talkie began to emit static sound. He quickly picked it up and wiped his tears away.

"Bill, here." He said formally.

"Bill, it's Ivan here. Listen, I don't have much time." Ivan spoke between grunts and static, Bill could not only hear the sound of the battle around Ivan, but he could see it on the monitor as well.

"I'm here, Ivan." He said with a calm voice.

"We're almost running out of Red Kneyeghts over here, I just about lost my group-" There was a momentary pause in his speaking as he fired off his weapon, bringing down a Quartz Gem. "It won't be long now before they're finished with us." Ivan kept speaking as he ran, several Tourmalines chasing after him, weapons drawn.

"You know we can't save you..." Bill's voice cracked as he said this and his tears fell once more.

"I know, what I'm trying to tell you is that you should detonate the remaining mines on the shore. Not all of them were stepped on." Ivan's voice could be heard panting and wheezing as he continued to run, he quickly turned around and fired, taking to Tourmalines down and the rest scattering around him. "Order the Mortars as soon as I fall, Bill! Ya hear me?!" Bill's breath was caught in his throat as he heard him. "Bill?!" Ivan exclaimed in worry.

"Got it..." Bill said as he dropped his walkie talkie and saw as the Tourmalines slashed at Ivan's chest in a swift motion, a large, spurting gash from where his armor used to be. Bill as the Tourmalines ganged up around his fallen but still alive body and just jabbed, hacked, and clubbed at his body. Not only his, but many of the fallen Red Kneyeghts on the battlefield. Bill saw these Beasts toy with his Comrades corpses and that was enough to send his anger over the edge. He pressed a button that connected him to some of the Samaritans in town.

"Kill them." Bill seethed. "Blast them back to their planet."

* * *

 **Samaritans: 1700.**

 **Homeworld Gems: 693.**


	15. Chapter 15

Lightning and Light

There were several loud shots heard from the center of Beach City, followed by the sound of small, yet ominous whistle before explosions befell over the beaches and in a mere flash, the majority of the beach and whatever remained in it turn to ash, cracked, or scorched the sand. Once the first wave of shells hit, it was followed by another round of shells for any of the Homeworld Gems that might have survived.

Bill looked at the screen overlooking the beaches of the City with anger and tears. Completely destroyed and scorched, and some of the craters where the shells hit became nothing but glass due to the extreme heat from the shells. Bill took control of his communicator to the Samaritans who were in charge of the mortars.

"Keep a suppressing fire over the beach. Keep firing! Keep firing!" He yelled in anger into the speaker and on the other end, the Samaritans took their orders as serious as Bill. Knowing that this was the phase taken after the fall of the Red Kneyeght unit, their comrades. "I want them all to be wiped out. Make sure they don't get into the city." He said as the shells kept raining over the beach. "If we have to, we'll win this way." Bill looked sourly at a monitor with a camera looking up at the Homeworld Warship.

"..." Bill hesitated as he contemplated whether what he thought was going to work. In his blinded sadness and rage, he slowly connected himself with the the Samaritans overseeing the mortars. "How high can our shells reach?" He asked.

"...About 6000 meters, sir." The man on the other line responded in confusion.

With that information, Bill quickly calculated the distance of the mortars and the Warship. As he did this, Yellow Diamond was making calculations of her own, back in said ship.

* * *

 _Homeworld Warship_

"Impressive. Not only is their technology advanced enough to disintegrate entire battalions, but apparently they're comfortable in leaving no trace of their own fallen if it means getting rid of us. Such a fascinating tactic." Yellow Diamond spoke to her Pearl as she looked through the eye of the ship and into the beach. He Pearl looked at her Diamond with marvel. Knowing the tactics the humans were using were the kind her Diamond would use on her own troops, still alive no less. "But if we want to keep this battle as fair as possible." He Diamond chuckled in a motherly fashion. "We need to get rid of such weapons." She smirked as she put her hand gently over some green buttons. "Organic beasts, such as them, need to see the light of our race."

* * *

As Bill finished his calculations of the shells reaching the ship, he confirmed that they were, in fact, capable of reaching the Warship. He told some of the Samaritans reloading the projectile weapons to take aim at the giant, mechanical, multi-armed woman in the skies.

"Yes sir." They answered and aimed their mortars toward the warship, whilst others were still laying a suppressing fire against the beaches.

Just as they fired shells at the warship, the warships hands started to reach downward. Not all of them, however, did. Only the ones that still had all of the finger pods in their palm aimed at the mortars. Many Samaritans looked up in confusion. Bill, however, was not and frantically pressed his communicator button to warn them.

"Get away from there! She's going to-!" But just as he was about to finish, blinding lights came from the finger tips of the warship, the beams blasting and destroying the shells midair. Time stood still as the Samaritans who had fired shells into the air gazed into the beams heading towards them in an almost hypnotic state. In a flash, the beams hit the lines of mortars, cracked the ground beneath them, and evaporated those that manned the mortars. Everyone, from where they were standing were silent. Amethyst and those in the city looked less than a few yards from where the mortars had been. From the hills, Pearl, Garnet, Saif and Fasha and the other riflemen looked back at the scorched asphalt. Bill was looking into the monitor with horror stricken eyes. Everyone expected the warship to fire once again, but its arms went back to being at its sides.

"She's toying with us..." Bill said with a sad expression. "She could have done that this whole time...she's choosing to let us live so that her forces ravage us..." Bill slumped down in his chair as he contemplated his next move.

* * *

Pearl fell to her knees as she fully examined the situation. This was a game to the Diamonds. They were risking all they had, and to her knowledge so were they, but seeing that beam of destructive light, she knew that whatever Diamond inhabited the ship, was merely playing a game with earth. She had nothing to lose.

"How can we even stand up to something that could have beaten us hundreds of times over?" She asked herself.

Garnet looked down at her comrade and frowned, then turned to Saif and Fasha who were in the same state of mind, defeated. With her advanced vision she could tell the rest of the Samaritans, including Bill, were in this state of panic. She quickly took control of the communicator and connected to everyone she could and spoke.

"Enough! We cannot let their attack scare us into submission. Yes, we lost good people, and our enemy is more advanced than we are, but we are NOT going to give into fear! Rose Quartz protected this planet many centuries ago with the same odds against her! We will not let one of their attacks harm our will to fight back and defend what is ours!"

Every Samaritan throughout Beach City looked back up at the warship and nodded. Even Bill, as he listened to Garnet, stood up and began to retake command of the situation.

"She's right, everyone, remain in your posts and if you see a Homeworld Gems, blast it to smithereens." He exclaimed. "We just need to hold on a bit more before a fight is taken to _them._ " He said as everyone took a deep breath and began to reorganize in their positions.

Just as it their spirits were revived, many rushing Gems stepped from out of the Ocean and charged at near blinding speeds. Separating once they reached the crossroaded beach sides of the temple and advancing on different sides.

"Fire at them!" Garnet yelled as she blasted her gauntlet missiles toward the incoming Gems from below that were heading into one side of the city. Pearl lead some of the other riflemen to take aim at the other side and shot them down from where they ran as quickly as they could.

Many of the Peridot's that ran had mechanical limbs that projected artificial light shields, in which they all formed over a line of incoming, and rushing, Pearls, Tourmalines, and Quartz Gems. Some of the Pearls and Peridots that had arm canons shot them through the shield at the Samaritans aiming down at them from the hillside. However, any bullet shot by a Samaritan, or bolt shot by Pearl, was stopped against the light shields. Some of the beams that were shot by the arm canons hit some Samaritans, and caused them to fall off the steep hill. Once they did, they landed on the light shields, however, in doing so, the shields gave way and opened up slightly upon impact. Allowing the incoming bodies to hit the ground in front of the Peridots. Saif and Garnet noticed this.

"Their shields give way to larger objects! It's only designed to protect them from smaller rounds of projectiles!" Exclaimed Saif.

"With enough weight, we should be able to break through their shields." Garnet mentioned and stood up. "Everyone, head back to the city and regroup with the rest of the Samaritans. I am going to bring the hillside down on them to buy us more time." She said as she hit her fist against her palm in excitement. Many of the Samaritans carrying rifles began to move down into the city as fast as they could. Pearl, Saif, and Fasha stood still. Garnet looked at them with confusion, "Why aren't you moving down to the city?" She asked. Pearl looked down and looked up at the lighthouse.

"We need to have a vantage point where we can take them out from a distance. We can take cover from the lighthouse and shoot them down from the top of it. If we need to, you and Amethyst can reach me if we need to activate Chrysoberyl. Saif and Sasha can help me destroy their forms from a distance." Pearl pointed to the top of the lighthouse that had one window at the top.

"It will be one of the many advantages we have once they step into the town." Saif said as she reloaded her magazine.

"We can also see most of the town from that view, we can tell you which groups are closes to the Gems." Fasha said.

"Alright, but be careful." Garnet said as all three of them nodded and they all made their way in the lighthouse.

As they made it inside, Garnet took a deep breath as she formed her gauntlets and expanded their size, she lifted her arms and brought her fists down upon the hill, causing both sides of the hill to fall downward on the incoming Gems. The rockslide falling over them in massive tons of stone and dirt, breaking through their artificial shields and drowning them in the solid material. Garnet looked down at the rubble done by her own doing. She smirked and readjusted her visors and smirked.

"Still got it." She said as she jumped toward the city to join with the rest of the Samaritans.

* * *

Pearl, Saif and Fasha were running up the stairs of the lighthouse as fast as they could, carrying as much ammunition with them as possible. Along the way, they felt the rumbling and shaking cause by Garnet's landslide.

"Remind me to never get on her bad side." Saif jested.

"Trust me, this isn't her bad side." Pearl corrected with a chuckle.

They made it to the top and Fasha opened the windows so that all three of them could aim at the Gems. Once Saif set up her position, she peered through her scope and surveyed the area quickly.

"Lots of hostiles heading into the city." She said, she was about to fire when she Saif accidentally pushed her as she set up. "Watch it." She warned.

"Sorry." Saif said nonchalantly as Saif readjusted herself to take aim once more. As she did, her expression dropped to one of shock.

"Oh no..."

"What's wrong?" Pearl asked, sensing a change in Fasha, she passed her scope to Pearl and pointed to what was happening.

"We've got company..." She said as Pearl saw that from where the Highway that lead into and exited from the city, Gem monstrosities began limp painfully into the city. All of them being lead by Peridot.

* * *

 **Samaritans: 1569.**

 **Homeworld Gems: 554.**


	16. Chapter 16

Cornered Animals

* * *

 _The Ark_

Thean and Ran were watching the video feed of the Homeworld Gems taking more and more control of the battlefield and heading into Beach City with clever and overpowering tactics of their own. From the entire shore, to midway passed the hills. What really worried them the most was the light beam that shot down from the Homeworld Warship. Thean was angry because he was still waiting on the call from Bill to push the Ark into the HomeWorld Warship.

"What's going on..? He should have sent a message by now." Thean said in worry to himself as he looked at the time.

"What do you mean?" Ran asked in equal worry.

"All I know is that the moment that the HomeWorld Gems made it passed the Red Kneyeghts, Bill should have given me the order to launch us into the ship." Thean informed.

"I see. Perhaps Bill let his emotions take control of his leadership..." Ran said as he referenced the abrupt bombardment of the shells a few moments ago, followed by the beam of light shot from the Warship. "When losing the amount of soldiers in his command as he did, I cannot blame him for making that decision. Yes it cost us some weapons, but a leader should stick to the plan." Ran provided.

"I disagree, plans never guarantee they will go as planned, if a wrench is thrown into the mix, you must learn to improvise should the plan not be viable." Thean retorted as he held the bridge of his nose in worry of what the idea was now. He looked into the speaker that connected him to Bill. "I'm going to contact him." He pressed the button. "Bill, when can we launch the Ark?" Thean asked, but there was a bit of distorted frequency between the communication. "Bill?" Thean asked once more. "Bill?!" Between the static, he could hear bits of Bills voice, which sounded heavily panicked.

"They're...their way...monsters...in masses...what are they?!" A frantic Bill asked. Thean knew that Bill was in a safe location, so whatever he was describing must have been something heading toward the town that only Bill was able to see. He quickly changed the point of view from one of the monitors and quickly moved from different places to see where it was that Bill was talking about.

Sure enough, in a camera that was installed in one of the street signs that lead into and exited out of Beach City, were Gem Mutants. Grotesquely deformed and slow abominations walking painfully into the city. Thean knew that these were unlike the Gem Monsters the Crystal Gems fought on a daily basis, these were different monstrosities altogether. Many with countless overgrowing and overlapping limbs of different colors, others were simply the forced mixed faces of what use to be humanoid beings, now in retching agony. Some were entirely limbless and were just masses of matter formed together by pieces of small clusters.

Thean and Ran were visibly sickened by the creatures that were, slowly, descending into Beach City. As hard as he tried to get a hold of Bill, he couldn't so he took matter into his own hands.

"Ran, buckle up." Thean warned.

"Why?" He asked, but did as he was told and put on his safety belt. Thean did as well, and took his seat in front of the controls and pressed a red button, to which a heavy volume was made throughout the ship and gravity suddenly felt several times stronger.

"Because we're ramming this Ark into that damned warship!"

* * *

Lion was travelling as fast as he could through the ocean floor with Stevonnie riding on top of him in their pink bubble. Along the entire seafloor were many creatures of all shapes and sizes. They smiled, thankful that their bubble was able to create light at such dark levels of the ocean.

"We need to stay focused." Connie's side said.

"I know, but you have to admit, all of this is pretty cool." Steven's side reminded.

"It really is." They said together and smiled before taking out the GPS device. "We're nearing her last location, at this depth we should be able to still see her. Remember, we have to convince her, not fight her. I know."

They continued walking for what seemed like several hours.

"I hope they're all doing ok back there." They said. "They have to. Otherwise HomeWorld would take over." Connie's side said. "I know, but a large part of this plan revolves on us getting Malachite on our side." Steven's side reminded. "I know, but regardless if they're dependent on us, they won't have just one plan without emergency back ups." Connie countered. "They'll be fine." They convinced themselves. "Earth will be fine."

* * *

"Aim small...miss small." Fasha said under her breath as she aimed with her sniper from the top of the lighthouse. Her, along with Saif, were using silenced Vintorez Rifles to avoid detection from any of the Homeworld Gems making their way into the city.

Pearl looked over at the two human women using such weaponry. In all her years on earth, she was hardly aware that humans were capable of using material and projectile weapons. Nothing to the extent of light projection, but solid objects shot at high speeds could do as much damage to an opponent, or more likely, kill them. However, in this case, the weapons they held were designed to kill silently. Should she have used her own spear to project light at the Homeworld Gems, they would have surely been able to notice and trace the angle and projection of her light blasts. So for now, she chose that if they did get caught, she'd be able to defend them by fighting them if they came up the stairs.

 _Meanwhile in town_

"Everyone get in positions! They're almost here!" Yelled Garnet as she arrived to the Samaritans. As she did, the Samaritans each scattered into different buildings, on the rooftops, second and third stories of said buildings, and even in taking cover within the sewers. Amethyst took out her whip.

"Its really happening isn't it?" Amethyst asked Garnet, the way a younger sibling to and older one looking for wisdom. Garnet looked down at her and nodded.

"Yes. But we will win. I promise you." Garnet said as she put her hand on Amethyst's head and rubbed it. "Go." She shook her head to point to her assigned group of Samaritans. Amethyst nodded in return and smiled.

"Will do, big girl!" She said as she ran over to the group that was heading into the sewers via sewer holes and jumped down and closed the lid.

Every Samaritan above ground held their position from where they were, holding their breaths so as to not let the Homeworld Gems hear them. And though their breaths were silent, their beating hearts were pumping blood loudly to themselves.

The Gems were rushing into the city in organized hordes, those in the front lines consisting of Pearls, Alabasters, and other smaller foot units. Easily identified as cannon fodder. Behind them were Gems that held projectile weapons that worked in different ways, consisting of straight shots, or angular ones to shoot over their own to decrease friendly fire within their own ranks. And behind them were the mighty, yet seemingly depleted, Quarts soldiers. Although appearing spent and few compared to their much more populated sisters, they still appeared as mighty and as threatening as armored vehicles.

Once they were within the open streets of asphalt and concrete, they stopped to survey the area. No sign of the enemy from where they stood. Yet they knew from experience from earlier in the battle that humans had multiple tricks that could cost them severely. As they continued to march through the streets, none were thinking about going inside the buildings as this was a species of which no present Homeworld Gem was accustomed to battle. So they did not know to check within places of cover twice for their enemy.

Just as they were stopping at the center of town, a massive rumble could be heard and felt throughout the city. Both Samaritans, Homeworld and Crystal Gems had no idea as to what could be causing that much of quake beneath their feet. From the ocean however rose what appeared to be a behemoth of a ship rocket out of the water and toward the Warship at slow, yet rising speeds. The nose of the ship had a drill and the rest of its body appeared almost fat and heavy. No doubt carrying something heavy, and if not, a lot of said something. The magnificence of such a spectacle rising from the water, with a blaze of orange, red, and blue flames pushing it upwards was something that no one had expected to see.

As the Homeworld Gems were looking on at the spectacle of the machine skyrocketing upwards, Garnet yelled and gave the order to the Samaritans below in the sewers to detonate.

"Now!" She yelled into the communicator, smirking at what was going to happen next.

The ground from where the cannon fodder stood gave way and they fell several feet below into the darkness of the sewers, though many of the Gems did not shatter, or even sustain damage from the fall, what awaited them below was an entire force of Samaritans armed to the teeth with heavy firearms, explosives, and flamethrowers. At the head of them was Amethyst, holding her whips, engulfed in purple flames with a smirk and lashing horizontally in a clean cut to force-retreat the enemy into their Gems, taking down several of them easily as the Samaritans behind her released a storm of metal and fire against them that disfigured the Gems momentarily before poofing them. The cannon fodder units soon scattered in fear throughout the dark tunnels, many using their gems to create a flashlight to guide their way, if poorly. Whereas the Samaritans put on night vision goggles and spread out the sewers to hunt the enemy down.

Above ground many of the Gems that didn't fall down, were being shot from multiple angles, not knowing where they were being hit from, the Peridots quickly rose their light shields to cover them from the incoming bullets, but even with such technology, they weren't able to stop the rocket propelled grenades from breaking through their shields and poofing and shattering them.

Unbeknownst to either side of the combatants, just above the hill that lead in and out of Beach city, Gem Mutants were slowly fumbling, crawling, and retching their way into the city. All being lead by a single Peridot.

* * *

 _At Sea_

Stevonnie and Lion did their best locate the gargantuan fusion. They both worried about their friends being beaten by the might of the Homeworld Gems, but neither of them lost any hope that they could hold off until they returned. Just as they reached the darkest and most ominous depths they could move into, they could feel the water around them shift slightly. Full well that the sudden reaction in the water was due to a creature that couldn't but had to be controlled. Stevonnie let out a sigh and lifted their shirt up to reveal their Quartz Gem in all its glowing glory. Brightening everything around them in a heavenly rose colored light. And as they did, nothing but beautiful sea life surrounded them and it became quite serene for a moment. Until all the sea creatures swam away from the mere feeling of terror that no doubt came from who they were looking for.

"Where is she..?" They asked themselves and gulped nervously.

Just then, a heavy, six-armed beast appeared in front of them. She looked down at them with an expression that visibly told of its ever combating existence. Clearly the two beings it was composed of fighting for dominion and control of the body they had both become. She slammed her fist next to the bubble, no doubt that even that act was one that was fought over for to either smash the bubble or to intimidate those that were inside of it, Lion especially, began to growl deeply at Malachite, warning her.

"It's ok Lion..." Stevonnie said nervously.

" _Who are you and what do you want?!"_ Malachite's monstrous voice boomed throughout the ocean. Something that Connie knew should have been physically impossible.

Stevonnie was sweating profusely at the sheer size and terror of her, they immediately dismounted off of Lion.

"Lapis...Jasper...you don't know us, but one of us knows you..." They said.

Malachite's face continued to distort horribly as both beings battled for who got to ask what.

" _Don't speak in riddles! Our existence is torture enough without having to guess answers we don't know!"_

 _"_ But we mean you no harm!" Steven's side yelled in a desperate call for a friend. "Lapis! If you're in there, it's me, Steven. Well...I'm Stevonnie, but part of us is Steven." Said Connie's side.

" _Steven..?"_ Malachite said, struggling once more for control by those she was composed of. This response created an excitement within Steven's side that he urged forward, causing for Stevonnie to unfuse, safely as he stepped in front of Lion to speak to Malachite.

"Yes! It's me Steven! Remember? Beach-summer-fun-buddies?!" Steven reminded Malachite desperately directed at Lapis.

Malachite struggled once more understanding what he said, especially after Steven and Connie unfused.

 _"No!"_ Malachite screamed as she slammed her fist powerfully onto the ground. _"I don't care who you are anymore! What matters now is this monstrosity we've become!"_ She yelled. Clearly Jasper's side talking. _"What matters is me going back to Yellow Diamond and laying waste to this pathetic planet!"_ A grotesque smile grew on Malachite as she began to demand the water to push the bubble away.

"Wait!" Yelled Connie and the current stopped as she suddenly peaked the interest of the broken fusion. "You may not know me, but I know about you!" She exclaimed as Malachite suddenly grew a look of confusion. How could this little being know about her? "We're on a mission to tell you that..." Connie paused, knowing that what she said next could either save or kill both her and Steven. "You should join our cause because we need you!" She yelled in fear as she finally put it out there. It was silent for a moment before Malachite began to laugh hysterically.

 _"You must be **really** desperate if you think that we'll join you." _ She used her manipulation of the water to bring the bubble back to her. _"As soon as I break out of this fusion and shatter this traitor, I'll make my way back to Homeworld. Yellow Diamond will still have use for a Jasper as powerful as me."_

"No! She won't!" Steven exclaimed. "She see's this mission as a failure. She thinks you're not good enough at all!"

"He's right! Listen!" Connie took out the recording device that Thean had given them for this exact occasion and the recording played.

 _ **"You know Yellow Diamond doesn't condone failure. Hell, she probably wants us to retrieve them so she could finish them herself."-**_

 _ **"You're right. After failing to reactivate the Kindergarten, crashing the ship, and disobeying orders I'd say three are in for it."  
**_

Malachite sat there stunned. Jasper world completely shattered. If Steven and Connie could see close enough on the lower set of her eyes, silent streams of tears began to glisten out of them.

 _"It can't be..."_ She said to herself as she took several steps back. The shock hitting her like Gem Destabilizer. _"She is supposed to take care of me..."_ Jasper thought aloud. _"But she doesn't we're nothing but disposable pawns to her."_ Lapis retorted. _"What will we do now?"_

"Join us." Steven said reaching out to them. Catching the fusion's attention. "We're nothing like Homeworld. We can give you shelter here on Earth if you help us defeat Yellow Diamond today. She has her forces back home and we have friends defending the city. I can't promise you we'll win. But you can help us a lot. We have a plan and everything! Whatever reasons you fought for earth in the past, we need that energy now more than ever to defend this planet. We have to defeat Yellow Diamond's forces!" Steven said as tears ran down his eyes. He knew that with every second that they spent here, more and more lives would be taken back at home.

For a while, it was quiet as Malachite contemplated. Steven and Connie both looked at her in anticipation, Lion looked on with precaution, prepared to get Steven and Connie out if necessary.

 _"I will crush the force that the Diamonds have sent to earth and make her regret that she ever threatened to shatter me!"_ She said and it was very ambiguous as to which side of her said that. She then turned to look down at them again. _"Where do we go from here, humans?"_ She asked, eager for combat. After having only fought herself for so long, she needed to release that energy in a different way. Steven and Connie fused once more and moved their bubble up onto Malachite's hand and pointed back home toward Beach City and the fusion took off at blinding aquatic speeds.

* * *

 **Samaritans: 1569.  
** **Homeworld Gems: 418.  
Gem Mutants: 300.**

* * *

 _Quick update of this chapter, I only now realized that I completely missed lion being with Stevonnie this whole time, if it seems that I forgot about him in this chapter, it is because I did and I am sorry for that, I have just now fixed that and I am working right now on the next chapter so not to worry._


	17. Chapter 17

Saboteurs

* * *

 _The Ark_

Thean and Ranjeet were ascending from the ocean at such rapid speeds that they feel the weight of their body press roughly against the seats in which they were sitting on.

"What speed are we at, my friend?!" Ranjeet said with a voice that shook due to the velocity of their travel. Thean struggled to look at the speedometer of the ship and saw that they were going 235 miles per hour, but the number kept rising by five steadily.

"We're at 235 miles right now...but we're going faster!" Thean spoke as loud as he could, due to the exhaust of the Ark, he had to yell over it. The sound similar to rockets and thunder surrounding them and ringing at their ear drums constantly.

* * *

 _Homeworld Warship_

From inside, many Homeworld Gems could see the majestic vessel ascend toward their heavenly, mechanical woman. The Ark leaving a large trail of white smoke and fire, only appeared to rise in speed.

"We must shoot it down, it could be an armed strike!" A Pearl screamed to her fellow engineering Gems as they prepared to activate their defensive systems.

Many of them began to man their stations to control the arms of their warship. They pressed buttons and activated levers and used holographic controls system to simply move the upper body of their fortress.

"Lock on to target!" The commanding Pearl yelled, and her Gem sisters did so.

The Warship aimed many of its arms, a total of 10 displayed, and from all those fingertips, spheres of overheating light began to glow toward the Ark.

"Fire!"

* * *

 _The Ark_

Thean and Ranjeet saw that the Warship began to charge an attack at them, quickly Thean reached for the controls and steered the Ark away from the hundreds of incoming light beams.

"Augh!" He yelled as he had to force the ship to move due to the increasing speeds at which they were going the simplest action required the most effort.

"We're of course!" Ran yelled in panic as now they were headed away from the Warship.

"I know! I'm not an idiot!" Thean yelled in desperation as he saw that the beams were still incoming from the fingertips of the Warship. He steered the Ark as if making a harsh U-turn in the skies as trails of light just missed the ship by mere centimeters. As soon as he finished turning, Thean made a direct bee-line at the Warship.

"What are you doing?! We're going to get shot down!" Ran yelled in fear.

"Shut up and buckle down! I did say we're ramming this thing into them!" Thean yelled as he knew his body was full of natural adrenaline at this point. "How many seconds of fuel do we have?!" He yelled, knowing the Ark, at the speeds it was capable of, its amount of gasoline it could support was very limited. Ran looked at the controls and calculated the amount of gallons into remaining seconds.

"We have ten seconds of it left!?" He yelled in doubt that they going to make it. If the light beams didn't hit them, they would surely run out of fuel before getting to the warship.

"Good!" Thean yelled as he pushed a shift forward to increase the speed of the Ark.

Now they were at an astounding 700 miles per hour. Light beams just barely missing them overhead. The Ark quickly managed to avoid all their attacks.

"Brace yourself!" Thean yelled as he and Ranjeet closed their eyes at the upcoming impact.

And so, the Ark, which was the size of two Warship handfuls, rammed devastatingly into the sides of the Warship. Where, if it were human, the kidneys should have been. The impact of such a collision, caused the whole body of the Warship to stumble in the air. From Beach city, it appeared as though the Ark itself was a knife harshly embedded at the side of the angelic figure.

* * *

 _Homeworld Warship_

Yellow Diamond almost fell over as the impact had just happened. She quickly composed herself and opened a hologram of that showed the damage of the ship. Her eyes widened at the percentage of damage caused by the Ark.

"Twenty-Seven Percent?!" She asked herself incredulously, she turned to Emerald. "I want you to make sure that whatever hit is destroyed. Tell the engineers to pull out that thing from our Warship!" Yellow Diamond yelled at a cowering Emerald.

"B-but my Diamond!" She responded in stuttering terror. "Communications from the lower half of the Warship have been cut off!" Yellow Diamond approached and backhanded Emerald powerfully, causing her to fall down.

"Then don't just stand there! Take a force with you to engage whatever is on that thing! And eliminate them with extreme prejudice!" Yellow Diamond yelled. In all her existence, Emerald never saw her Diamond lose her composure at all. Then again, no enemy before has been able to do the damage it just did to a Diamond's Warship.

"Yes my Diamond!" Emerald said as she rushed out quickly from the room. Alone to herself, Yellow Diamond sat upon the throne of the ship and waited.

* * *

Emerald assembled 50 formidable, yet disposable Gems to accompany her toward where the Ark had crashed into. This group consisted of trained Pearls, Peridots, Alabasters, and Tourmalines. Each carried weapons designed to do away with organic life forms, like their own weapons and arm cannons. As they approached the forced opening, Emerald stood behind her force.

"Hold." She said and they stopped immediately. She then began to address the stuck Ark. "Whoever you are in there, come out with your limbs raised high, any resistance shown will be met with prejudice."

There was momentary silence, and a latch opened up suddenly. Out from it burst out the upper halves of Ranjeet and Thean and on opposite sides, both leaned over the edge and emptied their stomachs after the disorienting ride they just had.

"Bluaghrrr!" They both yelled. The Homeworld Gems looked on in disgust, not for the same reasons as a human would have had watching another doing that, but merely because of the overall mystery of organic beings letting out any kind of liquid.

"Please excuse us...we are understandably very dizzy from that traveling speed." Thean said told the confused Gems who held their blasters against him. Thean was not phased by this however and turned to Ranjeet. "Hey, Ran...got a towel by any chance?" He asked. Ranjeet quickly tossed him a box of tissue paper. "Thanks." He said and wiped his mouth of any remaining bile. He looked over and noticed the Homeworld Gems for the first time, and immediately recognized Emerald. "Well if it isn't my favorite Gem." He chuckled before giving a final belch, Emerald to give a disgusted grunt.

"Of course it is you, the weak human being who managed to distract me the last time we met." She said, smirking at the memory of how she was able to humiliate him the way she did.

"I remember it more as me distracting you." Thean retorted as he smirked back at her, causing her to frown.

"It matters not, you are in our ship now, and it appears as though it is just you and this other vermin." She said referring to Ranjeet.

"Whatever, I don't see what makes you a big deal." Ran threw back.

"It doesn't matter what you can or can't see, what matters is that you are in our ship. Come with us gently and we may even keep you as jester pets for Aristocratic Gems." Emerald threatened as she gave her group a signal to shoot if any resistance was met. Thean stood up as did Ranjeet.

"You must not know much about earth." Thean began as he reached into one of his pouches. "You see, last time you were here, we barely had stories of our own. A history no less." He gently pulled out three small pellets and held them in his palm. His voice gentle with a message behind them that even the Homeworld Gems were captivated to listen to the end, yet still alert. "Two of those popular stories since Humanity thrived, were an Ark, that held beasts, the other was of a mighty wooden animal, that was designed to infiltrate." By now, Thean placed his skull-like helmet on and looked at the bay door below, causing Emerald to look at it too and realize he has distracted her again.

"Fi-!" Before she could finish her command Thean threw down the pellets and a large cloud of smoke emerged, giving him and Ran the perfect cover. "-re!" Emerald finished her command and her squadron blasted in the direction of where the two Samaritans once stood.

Powerful blasts from their arm cannons shot through the smoke, yet from the sound of what they hit, it was clear that they were no longer where they once stood, as instead the beams hit the ship instead.

"Cease fire!" Emerald yelled and her Gems did as they were told. Slowly, the smoke cleared, and from where Thean hid, he and Ran unlocked the bay doors, and out came floating thousands of bubbles containing gemstones within them. This caused Emerald to cower. "You...harvested gems..?" She could not believe. Thean then pressed a button for a device that had a high enough pitch that popped the surrounding bubbles of the gemstones, causing them to drop to the ground and begin glowing.

"And now, the hunters release their beasts." Thean spoke menacingly from where he stood, just enough to scare the the fifty Homeworld Gems and Emerald. They all stood with fear keeping them in place, as each corrupted Gem began to take a monstrous physical form. many of them taller than that of Quartz soldiers already, many taking the shape of Earth-like animals, others of beings more grotesque that even the farthest reaches of the cosmos could never identify. Hundreds of things began to take form from the corrupted gems; teeth, tentacles, fur, claws, spikes, chitin, nails, hair, horns, and all other kinds of indescribable features before an entire monstrous army stood before them.

"Fire..." Emerald stuttered and ran leaving her group behind, as corrupted Gems charged at them like a stampede. To frozen from fear to even pull the triggers of their arm cannons, they were easily shattered, torn, and devoured by the Beasts, who with their newfound freedom, began to disperse throughout the ship to run amok. Giving Thean and Ranjeet ample opportunity to place their explosives throughout the entirety of the ship. Starting with the pelvis of the Warship.

"You are one crazy bastard." Ranjeet admitted as he chuckled.

"Your point?" Thean smirked as they continued to run through the ship, placing C-4 and sticks of Dynamite in strategic places.

"We need to split up to cover more ground and explosives." Ranjeet said. "A shame too, I wanted to take pictures of this ship. It reminds me of the Goddess Kali in many ways." Ranjeet sighed.

"How so?" Thean asked, not too familiar with Ranjeet's religion.

"Multiple limbs, clearly war-like. All she needs is are short swords to complete her look and we're done for down there on the beach." Ranjeet said as he placed his explosives. Thean was surprised, and thought that perhaps when Homeworld came to earth the first time, other humans took their ships as inspirations for their starting gods.

"I see. Don't worry, just the mere fact that we're on an alien space ship should be good enough, not many other people can say that." Thean joked, causing Ranjeet to smile.

As they continued to run, they finally came across a large hallway that divided into two different directions.

"I guess this is where we split up, huh?" Ranjeet gulped.

"Yup." Thean turned to his comrade and shook his hand. "Stay safe, ok?" Thean asked as he hated the idea of losing another friend.

"Not to worry my friend, like a monkey in the trees I will remain silent in my endeavors." Ranjeet chuckled and ran into one of the hallways. Thean sighed as he ran into his, as he ran, he began to notice two things. The first was how much lighter his new armor was because of how much more distance he was covering as he ran, and the second were the sounds behind him of the corrupted gems making quick work of the Homeworld ones. He could hear their screams of pain and cries for help, as well as the violent snarls and roars. He quickly ignored it and continued on his way placing explosives throughout the ship until the thought occurred to him.

"There's no way off the ship." He said to himself out loud.

"No matter." His eye went wide as he turned toward Emerald who was behind him. "This is where you stop anyways." And before he could reach for a weapon, she decked him directly on the forehead with just enough force to knock him out.

* * *

As Thean began to wake up, he felt vulnerable. Exposed. He fully opened his eye to look down and noticed that he was no longer wearing his armor, or weapons. He was completely nude, as well as chained by the neck to the wall and both his ankles and wrists cuffed to one another.

"You are a fine specimen." He looked up to see Emerald examining his organic body. "I can tell that many aristocrat gems will have much use for you." She threatened as he remained calm and examined the room and situation. "Then again, I should just end you organic life for causing me and my Diamond so much trouble." He frowned at her. "What is the matter? Nothing cute to say this time? No witty comment? I can see I've already broken you for the second time since we've met." She laughed to herself before bringing up a several hologram screens. "I will admit that you and your...rebellion have planned out as best you could against the might of our Diamond." She said and activated live footage for the screens. "But regardless, this was all pointless." She said as Thean was shown what was happening in Beach city, his jaw dropped at the sight.

The majority of the city was on fire, there was pure chaos and fighting in the streets. Hundreds of bodies littered the streets, many simply laying there from fatal wound peacefully, others' bodies were barely even recognizable. Just mangled and torn pieces of fabric and organic matter laying about, or smeared along the surfaces of the streets.

 _How did this happen?!_ Thean thought to himself. Last he checked, their ambush was working perfectly.

"Don't think that we didn't have plans of our own, earthling." Emerald said. "You see, you failed to capture one Gem from the scout ship that landed here. Which was the Peridot. And how foolish of all of you to not have checked the kindergartens, where we had an experimental army all along. You see, they served as a small, yet formidable army created as the perfect cannon fodder. Made by the previous Crystal Gem rebels being forced into fusing to create a writhing monstrosity whose sole purpose is to annihilate organic material." Emerald admitted. "As of now, they are a complete success, so far eliminating your little battalion. Yellow Diamond will be most please to see they work."

Thean was annoyed with her rambling, and began to undo his the steel wire that held his long hair together. With Emerald turning away from him, he used the ball-tip ends of the wire to pick at the locks on the wall as silently as he could. He looked on at her with killing intent as he continued to pick at the locks. Though the chains were slowly unlocked from the locks, the chains that cuffed his wrists and ankles. Thean quickly knew that he needed to unlock his ankles before his wrists, fortunately because the chains holding his wrists together were not too short, especially compared to those cuffing his ankles.

* * *

 _Elsewhere on the Warship._

Ranjeet was looking being hunted down by some of the enemy Gems, and them in turn were being chased by the Corrupted Gem monsters. Ran kept looking back at those that chased him, nearly catching up to him, and began to shoot t them with his pistol, as he quickly maneuvered the ship, he realized he was almost out of explosives. He quickly began to message Thean.

"Comrade! I'm almost out of explosives, I am also being chased by several Gems. I've already planted most of mine!"

* * *

Thean's communicator began to sound off with Ranjeet's voice. Both Emerald and Thean saw and heard the message, Emerald went to examine it, quickly Thean looked up at the hologram showing the map of the ship and it also showed where Ran, the Gems and the Corrupted monsters were all moving through. He then scanned an exit for his friend, he then noticed that there was a hallway leading to the hands and remembered that they were detachable. He quickly charged unlocked his ankle locks and yelled at Emerald just as she was about to touch the communicator.

"Hey!" Thean yelled at her. To which she turned to him, surprised that he was no longer in chains, mostly.

"How did you get out of those?!" Emerald quickly summoned a large two- handed clay-more sword from her gem that rested at in her palm. "No matter. I will deal with you once and for all. You've been a thorn in my eyes since I met you." She began to approach him. "Which shouldn't be hard, I already beat you once, were it not for the lion I would have killed you then. Besides, it appears you missed the chains on your wrists." She raised her blade and brought it down violently downward as he dodged the attack. No skill, no elegance, just pure, raw, muscle at this point.

 _Perfect._ Thought Thean as he smirked.

"Do you ever stop talking?" He said as he regained his footing. She kept swiping and bringing down her blade toward him, to which he moved much faster from, no armor or weapons to weigh him, allowing him to move at his maximum potential. "If you wanted to kill you had plenty of opportunities. I think that secretly you want to keep me." He taunted.

"You worm!" She swung once more. "Do you think that your being here will make any difference?!" She yelled, swinging harder. "Whether or not you're here, Yellow Diamond will have this planet!" She continued to bring down her sword toward Thean, who kept dodging with greater speed than she remembered. Then again, he wasn't wearing any armor or weapons now to slow him down.

 _I just need her to..._

"Your futile resistance is pointless!" She yelled as she thrust her weapon forward.

 _Now!_ Thean smirked and jumped backwards away from the thrust and quickly used the chain links to wrap around the blade itself and hold it in place.

"Wha-?" Before Emerald's Emerald's shock was over, Thean yanked the blade out of her hands and swung it perfectly with the chains, spinning in place along with the blade and with all his strength swung the blade toward the side of her neck. The force of which not only penetrated through the other side, but also managed to pierce the wall next to Emerald. Thean's expression changed from a smirk, to a hard stare.

"Urk-" Emerald's pupils contracted as Thean loosened the chains to let go of the blade and walked up closer to Emerald's eyes so that they were face to face.

"Look at me!" He spoke with a tone that dragged death behind it. "I want you to get a good look into my face. Because I guarantee you it will be the last face you'll see before you shatter. It won't be a fellow Homeworld Gem's, it won't be a Crystal Gem, and it certainly will not be Yellow Diamond." Emerald was truly experiencing an emotion that she never had to experience before in the security of her power and position. Fear. "It will be mine." He gave her a cold hard stare, and were it not for her own blade lodged in her throat, she would have screamed in this new emotion. And like that, her physical form collapsed. Only her gemstone falling making it to the ground with a pathetic clinking sound.

Thean reached over for one of his pistols on the nearby table and shot at the stone intently. Shattering into small, broken pieces. He quickly reached for his communicator, trying to contact Ranjeet urgently.

"Ran, are you there?" Thean asked. "Ran? Ran?!" Thean yelled in worry. There was a pause.

"Yeah yeah, I'm here friend. No thanks to you." Ranjeet responded as he stood over the beaten bodies of both Homeworld and corrupted Gems. "Where the hell were you my friend?" Ran asked.

Thean looked down at his naked form and quickly began to put on his combat armor and weapons.

"I'm...I found a room with holograms with maps of the ship. Where are you now?" Thean asked.

"I'm putting the last of my explosives in place. What about you?" Ranjeet said as he was placing the last of the C-4 against a wall.

"I still have a few, mostly dynamite and a drill grenade." Thean then looked at the hologram map. "Ran, I think I found you a safe way out, it's just a few feet from where you are." Thean smiled.

"Truly?! That is great news my friend! Will you be coming too?" Ranjeet smiled excitedly, truly thinking this was a suicide mission.

"I'll catch up as soon as I finish setting up my explosives. You're nearby a hallway that's a forearm of the ship that leads to the hand pods, take it and land somewhere safe and try to help out as much as you can." Thean said as he looked on the map the route from his own location, to where Yellow Diamond's command center was. Not that far away.

"Right, my friend. I'll see you in Beach City." Ranjeet.

"I will." Thean lied as he placed the last of his weapons and armor on and sighed. "Goodbye." And with that, he disconnected his communicator.

* * *

Ranjeet ran over where Thean told him and got on the pod and pressed as many buttons as he could until one of them launched itself into the beach. Luckily for him, it did just that. As the pod was falling downward into the beach he quickly looked out the window to see all the destruction of the city. From the bodies of his comrades, to the shining gemstones of the shattered Gems, it was a sight to behold. Once the pod made impact with the sand and created a crater, he opened the pod door and looked out. He jumped out and his bare feet touched the cold sand as he looked up at the descending moon. It was truly hard for him to believe that all these events began the morning the day before, and now a new sun began to rise over the horizon.

As Ranjeet saw the first glimpse of the sun begin to rise, he saw that the ocean itself was rippling and suddenly a small, but approaching tremor could be felt. Ranjeet could not take his eyes off the water as a large form began to emerge, truly scaring him further.

"No...please don't let it be more..." He fell to his knees and began to tear up in lost hope as the creature fully crawled out from the depths of water, fearing that it was another Gem from Homeworld.

"We're here!" A young boy said. Ran immediately looked up and saw two adolescents stand on the head of the creature. The lion on it's shoulder.

"Steven?! Connie?!"

"Fear not!" They both said as they fused quickly into Stevonnie, donning their armor, shield, and weapons. "We've brought back up!" They said excitedly as smaller forms began to rise out of the water as well, their appearance looking similar to Steven, but their coloration made them look like...

"Watermelons?!"

* * *

 **Samaritans: 756**

 **Homeworld Gems: 374.**

 **Gem Mutants: 288.**

 **Watermelons Stevens: Unknown.**

* * *

 _Finally, it's here. After a failed save and the feeling of impossible replication, it is here! I hope this chapter is to your guy's liking!_


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: This Fic was thought of during the first Steven Bomb, so in this version, Yellow Diamond is NOT the one from the Show. I had this idea long before the Diamonds were shown, so if some things seem out of place height wise, it is only because I already had in mind this scene long before the show even revealed their physical appearances. Enjoy!_

The Epic Finale

* * *

 _The Warship_

Thean was making sure that everyone of his weapons was placed perfectly on his combat armor for maximum convenience and battle efficiency. Every magazine fully loaded, every blade prepared to be taken out, every surprise weapon ready to be spent. He then put on his skull resembling helmet. He opened up a compartment that was on his left pant leg. Inside it were three needles, each containing a colorless substance within them. He knew that if he were to face the Diamond, he would have to exert his body beyond his own natural capabilities. With everything he needed in order, he began to make his way to the head of the Warship.

* * *

 _Beach City_

Amethyst was doing her best to capture the Gem Mutants in a death grip with her whip and send them whirling against other ones, whilst keeping as many of the Samaritans in her group alive.

"We're completely surrounded!" One yelled in fear, firing off as many rounds from his rifle as he could. Doug and Priyanka were saving as many of the injured as they could and bringing them into the more secluded buildings, where medic Samaritans were doing their best to attend to their injured brethren.

"That just means we can attack on all sides!" Amethyst encouraged as purple flames enveloped her as she spin dashed in a perfect circle to bring down the Gem Mutants. "Is that all you got?!" She said, eager to fight, and protect.

Those of the Samaritans off in the sewers that were picking apart the remaining Homeworld Gems were now falling back to different areas as hordes of the Gem Mutants began to overpower them in sheer numbers and cut them off in enclosed spaces.

Up in the lighthouse, Pearl, Saif, and Fasha used up the last of their rounds. It was not long before their positions were compromised and the tower was targeted. A heavily concentrated ball of light was shot from one of the Peridot's arm cannons that blasted just below the window, causing the glass to shatter over onto the unsuspecting Fasha.

"Agh!" She screamed in pain as tiny shards of glass embedded themselves all throughout her face, some even in her eyes. She fell backwards, holding her face to console herself, attempting to make the pain go away in a futile manner. Saif quickly rushed to her side.

"Fasha! It's going to be ok. We're going to get you fixed!" Saif attempted to comfort a wailing Fasha.

"It hurts to cry!" She screamed and sobbed.

"She needs immediate medical attention." Pearl exclaimed as she summoned a bottle of alcohol, swabs, and medical tape from her gemstone. "I'll do what I can. Cover me." Pearl said as she began douse Fasha's wounds in alcohol, causing further blood-curdling screams. Saif quickly looked over the shattered window to see that a small group of Alabasters were making their way into the Lighthouse with one Quartz following behind while the Peridot kept firing at her with the arm cannon. Saif reached to her belt to throw a flash grenade down the spiral stair case of the lighthouse, blinding and disorienting the Gems and firing the last of her rifle rounds at them.

Back in the open streets of Beach City, Garnet and her remaining Samaritans were firing as many projectiles at the Mutated and Homeworld Gems.

"Don't let them surround you, form a defensive perimeter." Garnet said, and another Samaritan stood beside her.

"Shotguns in the front, rifles in the back!" He yelled as they got in an all defense, forming a perfectly even circle. "Shotguns, kneel and fire at the gems within a three step range! Rifles, shoot as many as you can!" He commanded.

Garnet jumped high into the air and fired her exploding gauntlets at heavily clogged up forces of Gem Mutants. As she descended back to the ground, she would jump again in the air and aim at another target.

* * *

Peridot, from her hill gazed at the city. She herself could not believe that this creatures were experiments of Homeworld. The idea honestly frightened her, a simple engineering unit like herself used to working with machines, suddenly controlled abominations and witnessed their chaotic nature against organic beings. Rather vulnerable and fragile creatures they seemed and she could not bear to see their eradication. She sat down, this entire time of hiding and running away from the Crystal Gems, now commanding an army of forced Gem fusions was too much for her to comprehend. She then decided that this mission she started off in was not worth it any longer. She knew that whatever the outcome of this battle, she would no longer be the same again. And as such, she resigned herself to where she was and waited for the battle to finish. Hoping that whoever came out victorious would spare her.

* * *

As the sounds of screaming, firing, and battle roared through the night, the sun began to rise, as if a ray of hope itself were manifesting. The light shining so brightly that the Gem Mutations were taken aback by the sudden exposure to sunlight, having been kept away in the Kindergarten for the longest time. Such a design flaw made it easier for the Samaritans and Crystal Gems to fight back whilst they were at such a vulnerable state.

"Now is our chance!" Garnet yelled as she gave the order for her group to push out forward on the offensive. All of them charging, full of adrenaline and hope, the perfect concoction for their most dire situation.

Amethyst, with her group against the wall in the sewers, spin dashed upwards into the ceiling to create an opening where rays of sunlight broke through and caused the Mutants to screech in pain at the sudden appearance of such brightness, causing Amethyst to smirk as she landed up on the streets, bruised and beaten, on the verge of her form being destroyed.

"Honestly, I've done all I could..." She smiled and sighed heavily. "I got nothin else." She said as she rested and allowed her group to take control of the situation and charge at the fleeing monsters with bayonets, and daggers, the Mutants too afraid of the exposure of sunlight to fight back.

In the lighthouse, Saif was throwing down one flash grenade after another to slow the Gems from coming up, unfortunately, she could not fire well against them as the Quartz used her massive brute body to protect her team. Pearl quickly finished her work on Fasha, who has since calmed down and fallen into unconsciousness. Pearl then stood up and summoned her spear as she jumped down the center of the spiral staircase and used her bolt attacks to hit the Alabasters and land perfectly on top of the Quartz Gem and pierce her spear through its back, causing her to retreat into her gemstone. Saif looked out the window and shot the Peridot with the arm cannon with her rifle, the bullet hitting it directly on its gemstone. Shattering it immediately. Suddenly, the city began to fill with water, coming from the ocean, as thought the beginnings of a flood began to take place. As the tides of battle were turning, Ranjeet came running from the beach, a force of watermelon humanoids behind and a giant Reptilian creature.

"Help has arrived!" He yelled heroically as he summoned his pistol and shot many of the surprised enemy Gems, whilst others were being tackled and pounced on heavily by the Watermelon Stevens. What happened next surprised everyone as every Homeworld Gem and Mutant was being pushed upwards into the air with by selective jet streams of water, only for the pillars of water to transform into hands and hold them in place.

* * *

 _The Warship_

Yellow Diamond was looking down at the city from the safety of her Warship. She became increasingly frustrated with how the fight had taken so long, more so with the fact that her troops were being trampled by these lesser organic beings.

"It appears I will have to take matters into my own hands." She said as she pressed her hand against a board control, causing several lines of to glow a bright yellow and grow all the way throughout the ship.

* * *

 _Beach City_

As it appeared that the fight was over, Malachite being that factor that was needed to subdue the rest of the Homeworld Gems, the Gem Warship began to descend like an angel as all of its limbs began to mobilize. Gravity took its course as it was brought down to the earth. Although it landed several miles away from the shore, it appeared that it was tall enough that its shins were still above the water, it began to move toward the city and each of its remaining palms were glowing and summoning crescent moon daggers.

Garnet looked on at the monstrous machine in the distance and knew that _she_ had to be activated. She ran as quickly as possible toward the Temple. She quickly spoke to Pearl from her communicator.

"Pearl we have to activate Chrysoberyl!" She commanded from her end. "Get Amethyst and I'll get Steven!" She ran through the town, looking all over the place for Steven, or any sign of him.

* * *

From the hilltop she was in, Peridot could see the Warship head toward the city.

"Pity...I was just starting to root for the little guys." She sighed as she was about to sit back down, only to spot a short, purple colored Gem trying her best to crawl over to temple. She slowly began to descend from the hill and toward the strange Gem.

Amethyst just received a message from her communicator that they were going to activate Chrysobyl.

"I have...to get...there." She panted tiredly. Just as she was about to get up, a green foot appeared in front of her. "Crap..." She exclaimed, figuring that this was another Homeworld Gem prepared to shatter her. "I guess this is it for me huh?" She asked, practically resigning to her fate.

"Perhaps not. Where are you headed?" Peridot asked, taking Amethyst by surprise.

"Um...Over there." She pointed to the lighthouse, Peridot turned to look at it.

"Why?" She asked genuinely.

"Because its probably our last hope of beating that bigger thing." She then pointed to the Warship. Peridot scoffed to herself.

"Hmph. A Diamond's personal warship could defeat anything else. What makes you think anything you've got will stop it? It seems so...pointless." Peridot exclaimed, causing Amethyst to chuckle.

"Hehe. We made it this far and long didn't we?" Amethyst reasoned uniquely, causing Peridot to raise her eyebrows and then pick up Amethyst by the arm.

"I shall assist you in getting there." She offered.

"Thank you." Amethyst appreciated.

* * *

 _The Warship_

Guarding the door that lead to the Yellow Diamonds room were six Pearls, each holding close combat weapons. As they kept their guard up, Thean came running from the other end of the hall. All the Pearls quickly set up in a defensive and offensive formation. Four of which who rushed forward toward Thean, and the two others remained behind to defend the door itself. Thean, as he ran toward them pressed several combinations of buttons on his chest pad, causing a his shoulder missile turrets to come out and take aim at the oncoming Pearls. With perfect accuracy, each missile hit a Pearl with no issue and the last two that protected the doors were pushed into the door by the missiles and the explosion blew open the doors. As the smoke cleared up, Thean stepped inside slowly. The whole head of the ship was massive from the inside, it reminded him of the rooms of the temple, but the floor appeared to be made out of the same material that the teleportation pad in the Temple was made of.

"So you are the nuisance that has been wreaking havoc on my ship." Yellow Diamond made her presence known from one corner of the room, Thean quickly turned to her voice and took out his CZ75 defensively.

"I can't take all the credit, the damage is mostly due to the Corrupted Gems and of my comrade, but he is gone. It is just you and me." He quickly got into a semi defensive and offensive position, his firearm prepared to fire.

"And what exactly do you think is going to happen here? Hm? Are you here to earn some type of glory from my 'inevitable' defeat?" She teased him as she approached him. "Do you realize you are not the first organic being to challenge the Gem race?" She smirked.

"I know, but I am certainly the first to have made it this far." He smirked as he conversed with her. "I have no intention of returning either. This is plain and simple a suicide mission. If I'm going to die, I might as well do it in a way that secures the safety of Earth from the likes of Gems. And if you want to defeat an army, you have to take out the Monarch." Thean reasoned.

"That is a very interesting idea and strategy, and no doubt a noble cause." She mentioned. "Unfortunately for you, and Earth, our original plan for this planet will still go through. Surely, an organic being like yourself is knows that any expanding group must colonize other's territories to secure their future?" She said.

"There are other ways than eradication." Thean frowned. "Life isn't some piece of trash you can remove for your conveniences."

"Oh, but it is. An inferior being like yourself wouldn't understand." She said, causing Thean to sigh, controlling his anger and pulling the trigger of his pistol. Bullets flying in her direction at fast speeds. As they were about to hit her, the same effect of the teleportation pad from the temple appeared and in several beams of light she disappeared.

"What?" Thean frowned and became extremely attentive to the situation he was in, keeping all his blind spots secure.

"Impressed? I had this room implemented with light transferring technology several millennia ago.. Wherever I want to be, I can think it and be there." She said as she appeared beside and moved her arm gently to lift her finger and probe at his side. This sudden, rather weak looking move, managed to fling Thean to the other side of the room.

"Augh!" Thean yelled out in pain as he quickly got up. "So that's how its going to be." He coughed as he felt a bruise forming where her finger had been and even swelling. "I should have known you would have had some weird hack ability." He chuckled. "And I'm going to assume it ain't your only one." He stood up and took out his CZ75 and aimed it at her once more and fired. Only for her to move once more in a disappearing light. Thean looked at the spot where she was and disappeared and tried to notice any pattern. Just as he was truly focusing, he heard one footstep behind him and he quickly jumped forward and turned around to aim once more to Yellow Diamond. Who disappeared once more. This time, behind him as he was in midair and lightly smacked him into the floor. "Argh!" He yelled in pain.

"Not as easy as you imagined, is it?" She taunted, causing him to force a laugh, much to her confusion.

"Nothing's easy." He said as he got up by knee and looked up at her, this time, firing once more at her, and again, her disappearing. He smirked as he saw what he was looking for, when she disappeared, the lines along the floor showed a fast, but noticeable stream of light moving randomly and wherever it stopped, she appeared. "Gotcha!" He exclaimed as he aimed where she was and pretend to fire once more, noticed where she was headed next and as she appeared, he fired again and the bullets hit her directly.

"Hm?" She questioned, thought the force of the bullets pushed her back, it definitely did not harm her. "That almost tickled. I feel so silly having dodged those weak projectiles." She said as she walked toward him.

"That's just standard shot, your highness." He spat as she approached him as he reloaded with a different magazine and fired once more, this time, the bullets were sharper and actually stuck to her synthetic light skin. "How's spitzer for ya?!"

"Ehn!" She winced slightly at the sensation, stepping back. The metals were embedded in her like nails half way into a wooden board. "You little rat." She exclaimed and disappeared once more and appeared in front of him an backhanded him powerfully, sending him flying across the room, landing on a large control pad.

"Losing your composure, your highness?" He smirked and got back up. Yellow Diamond disappeared and reappeared in front of him knocking the pistol off of his hand, Thean quickly used her closeness to his advantage and with his armor covered hand sent a direct punch into the gem dictator's face. Yellow Diamond, having remembered the report of Emerald did not view any of his physical attacks as much of a threat, but as soon as the fist made contact with her cheek, a volt of yellow energy created an impact against her.

"What the..?" Before she could react to it once more, Thean punched her once more, more with more ferocity than the last punch, and pushed her back even more.

"Gah!" He yelled painfully, the first punch he was more braced for impact, this second one, much harder, hurt his hand due to the hardness of the skin of his opponent.

"How did you-?" She began...

"We reverse engineered your gem destabilizing weapons." Was all Thean cared to admit. Truthfully, the sword that was made for him also served to power parts of his combat suit to to release the same energy. If he took out the sword, the effect would be lost for his suit, but the sword itself would still have the effect. "Still think organic beings are inferior? I always wanted to crack a Diamond!" He said angrily as he rushed her once more. Yellow Diamond began to deflect and dodge his attacks, showing Thean that she was indeed combat efficient. She suddenly caught both of his fists and began to force him down to his knees.

"Let us see if your bones don't break before then." She smirked and she squeezed against his armed wrists.

"Aurgh!" He yelled at the pain, as he felled the ligaments press not only against bone, but his blood vessels lose circulation.

* * *

 _The Lighthouse_

Garnet landed just at the foot of the lighthouse. She was beaten and tired and fell to one knee momentarily before standing back up. She saw Pearl run out the entrance of the Lighthouse.

"Pearl, are you alright?" Garnet asked worriedly.

"Of course. I still got it." She smirked as she struggled to remain standing upright.

"Don't forget about me you guys!" They heard Amethyst yell out a few yards from behind them. They both turned to see a Homeworld Gem supporting her as they walked up to them. Garnet and Pearl got into their defensive stances. When they got closer, they noticed that it was none other than the same Peridot that came to earth many weeks ago. "Wait! She's cool. She helped me get here. I'm too roughed up to have gotten here myself..." Amethyst said as she got in front of Peridot to protect her.

"Why?!" Pearl asked aggressively. Still in her battle mindset.

"I...I want the fighting to be over...should my Diamond win, I will surely be cracked for failure...but if you guys can beat her...I'll join you, you have my services. I just want this all to cease." She admitted. With not much time on their hands, Pearl and Garnet made their weapons disappear.

"Fine, but you will explain everything you know afterwards. Got it?" Garnet said as she towered over the machine infused Gem, who nodded in return. "We have to get to the temple, now." Garnet said as she picked all three of them up and jumped off the hillside and through the roof of the house. A screaming Peridot in hand.

"Clods!"

* * *

 _Beach City Streets_

Stevonnie was leading the Watermelon Stevens throughout the city to help any survivors and bring them to where the Maheswarans were. In hopes that Priyanka could help in treating the wounded. They both looked at all the horrors that laid upon them on the streets that they both knew was just as much a city as any other. Entire roads, once black by asphalt, now stained of the red blood of Samaritans. Streets that once held their favorite restaurants and shops destroyed or falling apart. Other buildings simply raised to the ground.

"Help me..." They heard the weak voice coming from under a pile of rubble, they both quickly got off of Lion and sprinted to the pile.

"Don't worry, we're here!" They said as they approached, there was a gap in the pile that showed the face of a young man, that looked about as old as they did when fused. "What's your name?" They asked as they removed concrete, wood, and rock. Slowly uncovering the poor soul.

"I'm Matt..." He said painfully. "I want to go home...I miss my mom..." The corners of his eyes were dripping with tears. As Stevonnie uncovered more and more, they saw that his chest was burst open, with a gasp they both almost jumped back. "No...please don't leave me...it hurts...I can't see it but it hurts..." He painfully looked to where he the pain was and all the color was drained from his face. "No...no...no...Momma!" He cried in fear and pain.

"It's ok, we're here!" Stevonnie said as they moved closer to him. "We can fix this..." They struggled as they spit on their palms and rubbed them together in an attempt spread as much of the healing as they could. With no fear, they both placed their hands to the bleeding chest of the Samaritan, which upon contact, nothing served to heal him, only to further put him pain. They jumped back in fear and worry. "Why didn't it work? No no no no..." They said repeatedly afraid. It must not have worked in fusion form.

"AH!" He screamed a bloody cry that lowered to heartbreaking cry. Stevonnie began to cry as they were powerless to put him at ease, after a while. Suddenly they took a hold of his hand and squeezed it comfortably. He looked up at them, and through his look of pain, he took the time to appreciate their company. "Help me..." Were the final words that left his lips as his head fell back as they nodded to him. Stevonnie gazed at him horrified. They just witnessed the loss of life. A man who wanted nothing more than to be in the comfort of his mother's arms just died before them. They looked down at the bloodstains of their hands.

"We will." They both stood up. Blood in their hands as they looked at the horizon and saw the approaching Gem warship, to which they sighed and began to walk over to the Lighthouse.

* * *

 _The Gem Warship_

Yellow Diamond flung Thean across the room like a ragdoll, causing him to hit the wall with his back, causing him to land on his chest forward.

"I wonder how many parts in your species' body I can break?" Taunted Yellow Diamond.

"Heh. Good luck at trying to do that..." He chuckled before he checking the windows of the eyes in the ship and saw something in the distance, causing him to laugh, disturbing Yellow Diamond.

"Is this a defensive tactic?" She questioned.

"No, but I am certain that is." He said as he pointed behind her, causing her to turn.

"What in the-!" She asked, utterly flabbergasted.

* * *

 _Beach City_

Emerging from the shore of the beach, just below the hillside was a giant woman made of stone. Slowly rising. Her lower body forcing itself out of the sand to show it was taller than it appeared. Once it stood at full height, it stood at just the same height as the Gem Warship. Five figures stood upon the head of the being. It had a Gem on its forehead, two on in one of its many left hands and another in its may right hands, one in its chest, and another in its belly. As it rose, the house that held Steven's home broke apart into pieces. All of the figures looked at the warship with determination to destroy it.

"Let's finish this. For Beach City." It began to take its first steps in millennia.

"For Humanity." It stepped into the ocean.

"For Earth." It reached into the water and pulled out a giant stone sword.

"For our Future!" It began a menacing walk against toward the warship.

"Are you all crazy?! We can't stay here! Do you have any idea of the type of damage that Warship can do?!" Peridot said as she turned one of her limb enhancers into blades and began to spin them at high speeds to create a helicopter effect. "This thing functions on its own right? Then I say we get off of it and hope it wins!" She said as she offered her hand to Amethyst first, followed by Garnet, Pearl and Stevonnie and she floated them all toward the beach, where a huge crater was where Chrysobyl once was dormant in. As they departed from the head of the giant woman made of stone, Stevonnie left two red hand marks at the top of the head.

"Go get her." They said.

* * *

 _The Warship_

"Honestly, how hard is it to stop the same damn rebellion?!" Yellow Diamond asked as she made her way to the controls and pressed several buttons that summoned crescent knives from the wrists of several hands of the warship. "I have to do everything myse-" Before she could finish, a knife landed into the controls beside her and a fused at the handle about to go off, she quickly transferred to a safer place in the room.

"Hey..!" Thean said tiredly as he stood up fully, his arm out, indicating he threw the knife. "Your fight is still with me." He said as blood dripped down from the side of his head inside his helmet. He opened up the compartment over his left pant leg and pulled out one of the needles and inserted it in his thigh and pressed. His pupil dilated as he felt the liquid course through his body, filling him with new found energy and hyperactivity. All his pain seemingly gone. His heart beating as fast as he never knew it could. He looked at the ground and began calculating.

Yellow Diamond charged at him once more, this time with killing intent, she was almost certain that he would not be able to keep up in his pained state, as she neared him, he dodged her punch and aimed one of his own towards her face one more. At that moment, Thean felt several fragments of his knuckles break, but the adrenaline in him nullified any oncoming pain. She staggers to the side and focuses a much faster punch into his gut. Using the upwards momentum, he quickly sent a direct kick at her face and landed on the controls behind him and jumped over to the side. Little what Yellow Diamond knew was that he was strategically placing dynamite throughout the room at the bottom of the controls and against the walls where he was landing.

"You think just because you're fighting me that this warship can not fight on its own?!" She exclaimed as her wrists became crystallized, almost like sentient diamond. Thean in response took out his machete, and upgraded destabilizing sword.

"Let's dance!" He said as he charged at her with full speed.

* * *

Chryscobyl was making her way over to the Gem Warship and as she approached, she raised her mighty sword and brought it down with a powerful swing. As she did so, the Warship held out two arms in defense, only for the sword to cut clean through them and the machine hands fell to the sea. The Warship raised several other hands, turned them to fists and began to jab at the stone giantess. As Chrysobyl took each hit, some chunks of stone chipped away in large amounts. Chrysobyl swung all of its left arms and swung upwards toward the Warship, knocking upwards into the air slightly and striking forward with its right hands, knocking the machine back several steps.

* * *

 _The Warship_

Thean was swinging his blades with as much precision and efficiency as he could against Yellow Diamond. He kept every swing in perfect momentum, without stopping, without allowing the weight of swords to hold him down. Yellow Diamond held up her fists constantly blocking each hit, and deflecting as much as she could. The speed of this human was surprising, its primitive tenacity, its killer intent, its unbound rage, all directed toward her. Not only that, but she knew the weight it carried behind him was not his own, but the rest of the planet's as well. She immediately went on the offensive and hit him directly on the face, knocking part of his helmet off of his seeing eye. Thean took a step back and spat blood toward her eyes.

"You mongrel!" She cursed at him, the organic liquid caught in her visual sensors, blinding her temporarily. Thean had a clean shot as she was staggered and as he raised both his blades to stab through her, the ship rumbled and knocked them both off balance, Yellow Diamond capable of transporting to another side of the room.

* * *

The Warship stood its ground and with its many arms hacked and slashed at Chrysobyls many arms. The stone giantess was blocking off most hits and cutting off some off the machines hands, but the material was much more durable than itself and when some of the attacks hit her, her arms were cut clean through, not only that, but her sword also began to chip at it's edge. She quickly jumped back and swing the blunt edge of the stone blade against he neck of the machine, then again, and again, until the machine was staggered completely and function temporarily stopped. Several of the parts throughout the body having open wounds that revealed its electrical interior. The midsection of the Warship was left exposed as they showed the remainder of the Homeworld Gems, looking out of their ship in fear as the stone giantess reached in to grab a handful and squeeze them in one of her many hands.

* * *

 _The Warship_

"This is bad..." Thean said to himself as he could not only feel his heart rate slow down, but the overexertion of his body and pain return to him nearly a hundred fold. Slowly, but surely, the adrenaline was wearing off. He quickly took out another of the needles and immediately injected it into his thigh once more, the reaction was nearly the same, only weaker, and caused his body to sweat excessively. As he was about to close the compartment that held the last syringe, a crystal shard pierced through the metal compartment into his thigh breaking the last syringe as well. "Agh!" He screamed as the five inch glass like object lodged through the metal and into his thigh, without much effort, but certainly a lot of pain, he pulled it out and saw his own blood seep down his leg to the floor, blotches of his own blood on his hand and the shard. He looked to see Yellow Diamond pointing a finger directly at his knee. "So you have one more trick up your damned sleeve." He grimaced as he stood up and charged again.

"No tricks. Just many trump cards in my hand." She exclaimed and shot more shards out of her finger in an almost pistol-like fashion. Thean avoided each shard, but not without stumbling and losing balance, losing blood on a second dose of adrenaline was a terrible concoction of stasis to be in during combat.

"I'm surprised you even know such expressions." He taunted as he struggled to move, the pain returning once more, and this time so much worse than when the first dose wore off.

* * *

Chrysobyl was almost entirely out of arms, only six left, compared to the eight the Warship had. She slowly inched her head back, and with great force, headbutted into the head of the machine and broke the protective glass that was held where the eyes were.

* * *

 _The Warship_

Once again, both combatants lost the balance temporarily, but Yellow Diamond used her control over the technology to remain in place as Thean was ragdolled throughout the room.

* * *

Chrysobyl quickly brought her sword up wards into the midsection of the Warship and stabbed entirely through it.

* * *

 _The Warship_

Thean stood up and thrust his blades blindly into the direction of Yellow Diamond, who perfectly brought one forearm up and another down with such great force with the blades between them that they both shattered into pathetic pieces. He looked up in surprise as she struck him, further breaking his helmet. He looked back up at her, and despite all the pain he felt, ignoring all the exertion and damage put on his body, beyond the physical limits of normal human being, he rose his fist and punched back. Hard. Knocking her back too, followed by a sickening crack.

Yellow Diamond couldn't stop being taken aback by the savage, who began to hit again and again, each hit followed by the pronounced sound of solid calcium breaking. What was surprising the most, however, was that he kept on attacking, regardless of how much it was injuring him.

* * *

The Warship suddenly looked into the eyes of Chrysobyl and raised its eight arms and swung its crescent blades down upon the stone sword, shattering into pieces. Before Chrysobyl could react fast enough, the Warship calculatingly brought down her blades once more upon the stone giantess' arms, slashing all of them. Chrysobyl stepped back, but the warship quickly closed the distance between them and stabbed her blades all throughout her chest.

* * *

 _The Warship_

Yellow Diamond continued to go on the offensive as did Thean. Both throwing a flurry of punches where it would hurt the most. Suddenly, Yellow Diamond quickly grabbed onto his forearm, and Thean saw a fast opening and took out his drill grenade and slammed it onto her neck.

"Grah!" He yelled as he did so and activated a button that caused an automatic screw to drill drove and punctured into between her shoulder and neck.

"Ah!" She screamed in terrible pain before she kicked him back, causing him to let go, he landed on the controls behind the eye of the Warship, he regained his composure and saw Yellow Diamond summoned four floating shards from her fingers, each the size of large icicles and flung them at Thean.

Thean knew that whatever action he took was going to cause him harm, quite possibly death, but also needed an escape. He took a deep breath and jumped upward and each shard pierced him. The shards all forming a diagonal line across his chest. On below his rib cage, two between the middle and the fourth just next to his heart and below an artery. The force of the shards send him flying backwards outside the eye and land on the forehead of Chrysobyl.

"Damn organic rodent!" Muttered Yellow Diamond to herself as she touched the sore area where Thean's drill went into. "Whatever did he damage me with?" She asked as she walked over to the last communicator that worked on the ship and delivered a message to the rest of the Gems that were still alive on the ship. "Gems of Homeworld. I delightfully announce that we will be leaving shortly as a tactical victory. I will soon have all the Gems and shattered remains of your comrades recalled to the ship and we will return home. This planet is..." She paused, knowing that she could not let them know that this was a humiliating retreat. "Infested with scum not worth your Diamond's time." She lied. Either way, she would have all these Gems shattered so they did not speak of what happened today.

* * *

 _Chrysobyl's Head_

Thean was gasping desperately for air. He knew his lungs were quickly losing air, as they were pierced by the shards, he was in the worst condition of his life. He knew that this was likely his last moments on this good Earth. He painfully reached for his belt and reached out the detonator. Prepared to push the button to destroy that forsaken vessel. Yet something felt odd at the moment. For the remainder of the life of him, he could not think of something witty to say as he had his thumb over the button that would detonate the ship.

* * *

 _Beach City_

"It's over isn't it?" Said Pearl as she looked to see that all of Chrysobyl's limbs have been hacked off. "That was our last effort to destroy it."

"You gotta be kidding me man!" Amethyst said angrily as she kicked the sand.

"We're all gonna get shattered..." Said Peridot as she sat down on the sand and held her head.

"This can't be happening." Said Stevonnie, who defused in defeat.

"We threw everything we had at that thing and we still lose?!" Steven asked angrily, much like Amethyst.

"She can't do that!" Connie complained.

"Everyone calm down!" Garnet yelled, causing everyone to look up at her in fear and wonder. "My mind is very vague at this point but I do see us winning somehow...I can't fully tell what the vision is leading to but we cannot lose hope!" She said with great inspiration.

"Thean's still on the ship!" Yelled Ranjeet as he tried to get to them a little ways from where he was. Everyone turned to him in surprise. "He's still on that ship! He hasn't come out of it with me!" He exclaimed. "He has yet to detonate the explosives we placed inside!" He shouted and Garnet looked back at the ship and smirked.

"Then it's likely we've won because of him." She readjusted her broken visors as she saw the giants out in the sea.

Suddenly, many lights began to shine throughout Beach City, and many of the Homeworld Gems that were held by the pillars of water began to skyrocket towards the Homeworld Warship.

"They're being recalled!" Said Pearl in astonishment. "Just like how Emerald did when Thean defeated her group." She reminded.

"Hey...shouldn't you be glowing?" Amethyst asked Peridot.

"Well, each gem is chemically designed to be recalled to a certain ship and only that ship for the rest of their role, however, my recall was to the ship we came to Earth with. Thanks for destroying it by the way." She grunted. "It was still a worthy piece of technology I doubt you clods would understand." She exclaimed as the lights all found their way to the ship.

Malachite came running into the Beach from the City and joined in with the rest of the group.

"What happened? My prisoners are gone." They said in unison. "So I followed them." She spoke and looked up at the giants as well. "That's big."

"Who cares!" Connie cried, catching everyone's attention. "Why hasn't Thean blown up that ship to smithereens yet?! He could be hurt or worse!" She yelled desperately.

"Connie." Steven said calmly and held her shoulder, causing her to turn and saw a warming smile. "He's got this."

* * *

 _Chrysobyl's Head_

There it was.

"I got this." Thean smirked and pressed the button.

* * *

 _The Warship_

"I can't believe how annoying this planet can be." Yellow Diamond spoke to herself as she tried to take control of whatever was left of her ship when suddenly, several tremors could be felt throughout the ship and a sudden beeping could be heard coming from the device still stuck to her neck. "Hm?" She managed to get out a confused sound before the device burst into combustion and caused her to fall to her floor in horrible pain, not only that, but the dynamite that was laid out earlier exploded as well, pushing her like a rag doll throughout the room. Nearby Gems that heard the commotion quickly ran into their dictator's chamber and found her on the floor, missing half of her face, shoulder and parts of her chest were scorched black, but yet she was still in-form and writhing in pain.

"We have to get her to the healing matrix back on Homeworld!" One Peridot yelled. "Set whatever power we have left on our engines to lightspeed in Homeworlds' direction!" She yelled as she took command of the small group of Gems and knelt beside her Diamond.

* * *

After the explosions went off throughout the ship, the entirety of Beach City looked in awe at the destructive spectacle that was their enemies near undoing. Some of the impact caused the rest of Chrysobyl to shatter and begin to fall into the ocean. Thean laid atop the head of the destroyed giantess. A small smile on his lips.

"I shattered a diamond." He said to himself victoriously and closed his eye. As the head turned in it's fall, so did his body and plummeted to the earth. He could feel the wind resistance as against his damaged body and caused him to open his eye again. He looked down to see that he was facing the ocean, his smile turned to an annoyed frown. "Can't even die in peace can I?" He sighed painfully and fainted as he let the forces of gravity take the toll on his body.

Back on the surface below, everyone was desperately looking for Thean as the ship flew away at lightspeed and Chrysobyl fell apart into the ocean.

"Where is he?!" Asked Steven in worry until he spotted a body falling to the blue waters at dangerous speeds. "There he is! Lapis!" He yelled quickly and looked up at Malachite, who looked down at him. "I need you two to unfuse so that you can save him! Please!" Steven begged as his eyes began to water. Malachite's expression turned to one of sorrow and she defused, both beings separating a few feet off the ground and Jasper fell to the ground.

"Ugh!" She exclaimed and was about to curse at Lapis but she was already halfway across the ocean at top speed to save Thean. She knew little of what was happening, but she didn't care, she was there for Steven. And whatever he needed, she was eternally grateful to him and would do whatever she could in her power to help him. She flew even faster along the surface of the water, she knew that at whatever speed she was flying at and at the speed he was falling at, he would not survive a catch. So instead, as she neared him, she pulled out her hand and pulled a flowing stream of water along with her and then flew up, with the stream following right behind. She knew that bringing a small volume of water up to him would break his fall if he fell in the stream just right. As expected, she neared him and turned the tip of the stream into a u-shape and caught Thean midair without anymore harm being caused to him. As Thean hit the water, and Lapis gently pulled him out into her arms. She looked down at him and thought of him as pecular, yet intriguing. She slowed her flying speed as she flew back to the shore. Thean could feel something hold him. He weakly opened his eye and saw the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen hold him safely.

"...an angel?..." He said tiredly and finally fainted in her arms. This caused Lapis to look down at his frame but she shook it off as she neared the shore.

* * *

 **Samaritans: 218.**

 **Homeworld Gems: 97.**

 **Gem Mutants 133.**

* * *

 _Calling it right now, this is likely the longest chapter I'll ever post and I hope I delivered on the parts you guys were waiting for for months. It's not the last chapter just yet, but I hope I had ya going there for a second. Anyway, thanks for those of you who have sticked with me this far into this fic and I hope you'll still be with me as this story draws to a close(?). Have a good Spring Break!_


	19. Chapter 19

"What do we do with him?!" Lapis yelled as she landed safely on the sandy beach, in front of Steven and company. Thean still in her arms. His blood all over her contrasting cerulean hands, arms, and dress. "He hasn't stopped leaking this red fluid since I picked him up!" She exclaimed as she knelt before them and held him safely, knowing to be gentle with his already damaged body. Steven approached them both with spit in his hands to heal Thean. That is until Garnet stopped him.

"Garnet?!" Everyone yelled in surprise and confusion.

"This won't work. The damage to his body is too extensive. Any attempt to heal him with your abilities will not heal him fast enough. In every outcome where you heal him with your powers Steven, they all fail and result in his death." She said heavily. Everyone looked down and Steven looked heartbroken and was beginning to cry.

"Are you telling me that there is no way we can help him from dying?!" Steven cried. Connie placed her hand on his shoulder in comfort, though she was beginning to cry as well.

"There might be one way...but I am not sure it will work." Pearl said as she stepped forward.

"What would that be?" Amethyst asked.

"Well, Rose's Fountain does contain healing properties, but we never knew if it was capable of healing non-Gems. We know you could do it to an extent because you're half-human. But your mother's tears...I'm not sure...Garnet?" She turned to the fusion.

"It's worth a shot." She said, uncertain about the attempt herself. Quickly, Steven summoned his shield twice his side and flipped it and placed Thean in the depth of it to serve as a gurney. They made their way quickly to the temple, Garnet taking the shield in her hands and jumping over the patio and kicked the door down and began to head toward the pad, and everyone followed. They all transported to Rose's Fountain and headed over to the pool.

"Should we place him in safely?" Steven asked as he was about to lean his shield into the fountain.

"No!" Pearl exclaimed, much to everyone's surprise. "His blood could infect the entire fountain and taint its purity! Just filled the shield with water with him still in it!" Pearl said as she reached her cupped hands in the fountain and poured them over Thean. Everyone began doing so as well, much to Lapis' confusion.

"Um...I think I can help." They all turned to her as she raised her hands gently and a gentle stream of Rose's tears began to arc over into the shield and on top of Thean. Most of his minor scars were being healed, as though the skin was fixing itself at an accelerated level. Though he was still unconscious throughout the process.

"He's not waking up..." Connie exclaimed in worry before her eyes widened. "We need to remove the spikes...if these tears are meant to heal him, then the wounds have to be open for the healing to be fully effective." Everyone gathered around Connie. "It has to be done quickly. Lapis...keep the water flowing." She said, albeit strange for to give orders. Lapis simply nodded. Everyone put their hands on each shaft of the shards and yanked them out hard. Connie and Steven held the same one. The sudden removal of the embedded weapons in his body caused Thean to gasp and jolt upwards in pain.

"Augh!" He screamed as the shards were pulled out and the gaps in his body were filled with water. His exposed internal organs writhing as the fluid filled the gaps and fixed him. He gasped after the pain subsided and forced himself up and away from the where he laid, thus falling off the shield and onto the floor.

"Give him some space!" Steven yelled. Thean was grasping at what had just happened, and was in a complete panic attack before slowing down in exhaustion and falling forward unconsciously. "Is he ok?!" Steven asked as they ran at Thean's side. Connie checked his pulse and turned to Steven.

"He's going to be fine." She smiled at him and he hugged her in return.

* * *

The following morning, Thean woke up in Steven's bed. His upper half shot up in concern and looked around.

"Ugh..." He grunted himself as got out of bed, with a wobble in his step. He looked down and passed the stairs and saw the Crystal Gems, Steven, Connie, Bill, Fasha, Saif, and Ran in the kitchen discussing some things. Steven was the first to turn to Thean and smiled brightly.

"You're awake!" Steven yelled as he ran toward Thean, who was slowly making his way down the stairs. Everyone turned in his direction and smiled at him. Thean made it to the bottom of the stairs just as Steven approached and jumped up to hug the Samaritan.

"Oof!" Thean chuckled as he near-tackled by Steven. "Hey there, Steven. I'm guessing we won." He smiled cockily, as did Steven.

"I guess you could say we Rock-ed!" Steven punned.

"Oh gosh no..." Thean grunted at the pun without losing his smile.

"I've got tons more if you wanna hear." Steven said, which sounded more of a threat to Thean, causing him to scratch the back of his head.

"Perhaps later. I want to know what happened." He said as they made their way to the kitchen where everyone was.

"Thean, good to know you're still with the living." Bill said as he shook his hand.

"Good to remain that way Bill." Thean said and everyone began to congratulate him on his success on the Warship. He suddenly turned to Fasha, who had a white bandage over her eyes, with light red coloration on them. "Fasha...I'm so sorry..." Thean said as he approached her and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back in return. "You don't deserve this."

"Thean it's fine. I'm glad to at least have helped and survive." She said with sincerity. They parted ways and he looked back at everyone else, the atmosphere changing.

"What are our losses." Thean asked, causing everyone to look away.

"218 Samaritans are still alive...but over half of them have severe injuries from the battle." Garnet said.

"Right now my mom is working with the medic Samaritans that survived and are trying to bandage them up." Connie said. "We've had a long day yesterday."

Thean looked down and began walking outside. Everyone tried to stop him, but he was determined to go outside. What he saw tore his heart apart. Out in the open, in the beach, were many body bags, all of them full. much of the shore had been subject to all types of conflict. Several holes were made in the sand from the impact of missiles and grenades alike, other parts throughout the beach were stained in blood. The wall that was once there was completely removed. Yet the water remained the same, moving back and forth. Bill walked up from behind him and held his shoulder.

"Son...The survivors are in the city. Right now we're making efforts to find our fallen brothers and sisters and relocate them elsewhere. To give them a _proper_ burial." He explained. "We've made a few calls to landscaping and construction crews to come in and fix the damage done to the city so that the citizens can return without knowing what...happened."

"I know how this works Bill...this wouldn't have been the first time this had to be done. I just...I wish there were a public way to honor them, but I know our organization has to remain private in the eyes of the public."

"We could have a sign." Steven said, catching both of their attention. "We could have one with all the names of those who died defending the city. It could say "We honor those who have made it possible for this Beach to remain where it is today." and have it under the name of a foundation..." This was met with confused looks by both Thean and Bill. "We could call it the "The Dewey Environmental Activist Foundation."" Steven said excitedly much to their delight.

"D.E.A.F.?" Thean asked.

"Yeah! I mean, it could use a different name but..." both Thean and Bill let out a soft chuckle.

"No...it's fine. They would have all found it hilarious and amusing. It's very thoughtful of you Steven." Bill said.

* * *

Everyone made to the town and all the medical care was being done outside, with Dr. Maheswaran leading the other medics. Thean was not appear as appalled as one should be. He was desensitized to the tragedies of war by having experienced them himself firsthand. But it didn't mean that he felt nothing for them. Everyone else remained quiet until he stopped and looked at them.

"How am I alive?" Thean asked them as he looked at them intensely, causing them to look at him in surprise. He explained. "All I remember was Yellow Diamond's ship exploding, and falling from the sky with several spikes lodged in my chest. Not only that, but I feel fine. Great actually, but I exhausted my body on that ship. Yet I'm fine." He asked, bordering on frustration.

"Thean, what's going on, aren't you happy?" Steven asked.

"I'm happy to be alive. What is bothering me, however, is why I'm feeling better, but my comrades aren't. Look at them." He held out his hand to show and remind them of the Samaritans in pain, or having been crippled in the fight. "What did you guys do to me that you couldn't have done to them?" Thean demanded, and Garnet stepped forward.

"Thean, I know this upsets you, but we can't use the same method we've used on you to them. It must remain a secret." She said.

"What was the method?" Thean asked, silently, but with danger looming behind his voice.

"We've healed you with tears..." Pearl admitted reluctantly, confusing Thean, and disappointing Garnet.

"What?" Thean asked in confusion.

Fearing the conversation becoming slightly hostile, Steven and Connie decided to walk off together somewhere else.

"Long ago, Rose Quartz discovered that her tears could heal Gems, which made it useful for the first Rebellion. She made a steady supply of her tears at a fountain where any soldier could get healed. But throughout the war, many soldiers have used it, us included. Rose cried throughout the war and many times after. There is a lot of it but..." She paused. "We're afraid that if we reveal to you and the Samaritans its location, then...you'll use it indefinitely forever as long as your organization is active, to the point where it is spent. And we cannot have one of the last sacred places of Rose Quartz lost." Pearl said with confidence.

This news frightened Thean, angered him as well. Here were his comrades who have risked and lost their lives to help in the battle.

"This is not fair, and you all know it." Thean said. "Is there anything that can be done?" Thean asked.

"Perhaps we can take a few samples with us." Bill stepped in. "We can run the samples with some of the engineers in another area to see if we can replicate it." Bill suggested. "Maybe we can."

"Sure. That works." Garnets said. "We can surely do that." She said, much to their content. Bill and Thean continued to walk off to see the rest of the city, leaving Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst behind.

"You're not serious are you, Garnet?" Pearl asked in worry.

"Of course I wasn't." She said. Much to the surprise of the two of them. "I've seen this. If we allow the Samaritans to gain access to the Fountain, the chances of them abusing the tears are high. We can't risk that." She said with a frown.

"And if we don't give it to them?" Amethyst asked with worry.

"Then they will likely take it by force..." Garnet said with a sigh. "Let's hope that none of that happens."

* * *

"I can't believe all this happened last night..." Connie said as she held her arm in worry. Both her and Steven were sitting at the top of the hill that overlooked his home. A nearly obliterated city.

"I can't either." Steven admitted, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "We saved the planet. Us, the Gems, and the Samaritans. We did something incredible." He chuckled nervously as he repeated _incredible_ to her. The word alone was his favorite that he'd ever heard come out of her. For it was what she described him when he saved her the first time. Connie caught this.

"Yeah." She smiled softly at him. "We were." She moved closer to him. "That guy...I can't remember his name..." Her smile fell and her eyes began to water. Steven's hand clutched his shirt just above his heart.

"Me neither...It was horrible...I wish I could have done something." The wind blew.

"We tried...but we don't have full control over Stevonnie yet." She turned to him. "Which is why we have to become better." He turned back to her.

"Yes. I don't want what happened to him to happen to anyone else if we can prevent it." He gave her a serious look of determination, to which she returned.

"Promise?" She asked as she stood up, holding her hand out to help him up.

"Promise." He nodded with a smile and took her hand.

As their hands touched, she pulled him up to her with unexpected strength, and softly placed her lips over his. Steven's eyes were shocked at first as he looked into Connie's closed ones. His pupils then turned into stars of wonderment and closed them as he enjoyed the kiss with her. When he couldn't feel them anymore, he noticed that she was already walking away, whilst turning to give him a blushing smirk.

"You owe me a date when the city's fixed Steven." She giggled before walking back down to the city, leaving him dumbfounded and smiling.

"So. It looks like she made the first move."

"Ah!" Steven yelped in surprise to see Thean standing just behind him. "W-when did you get here?!" He asked, his face full of red.

"Hehe, I was just making my way up here, saw you guys, but didn't want to disturb you. Nice promise by the way. You guys make a cute couple." Thean said as he plopped down next to him. "You better tie the knot with her as soon as you can, now that you're a Samaritan." He smiled at Steven.

"Me, wait...knot..." He asked nervously as he took all this in. Causing Thean to chuckle.

"What I mean is, with how good a friend of mine you've been to me, and how you proved to yourself and others what you're truly capable of, you have what it takes to be a Samaritan." He smiled and gave him a blue shirt with a Golden six pointed star in the middle. The symbol of the Samaritans. Steven looked down at it in wonder and hugged Thean, taking him by surprise. Thean returned the hug. "Now as a Samaritan, you risk your life everyday. So if you have someone you like, definitely get together with them permanently." Thean teased, with a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"I will Thean. Thanks." Steven said as he hugged him tighter.

"Steve!"

"Ah!" Steven and Thean exclaimed as Lapis was right in front of them, flying just a few feet away from them at the edge of the hillside.

"I wanted to see if you were okay, and thank you...for everything." She smiled.

"It was no problem Lapis. I'm glad you're alright now." He said as he walked over to her, and she hugged him in return. When they parted, she looked over at Thean, and he to her. There was only the silence of the wind as both of them saw each other, Steven looked back and forth between them and wondered what they were thinking.

"You're the angel that saved me..." Thean said as he bowed to her, as if in stories. "Thank you. I mean it. If there's anything I can do, please let me know." He looked up to her in anticipation.

"It was nothing. Steven liked you and I saved you. Simple as that." She said plainly, confused by his bow. Steven looked at her in worry. "But you're welcome. And I'll be sure to...keep you in mind." She said before turning her attention back to Steven. "Do you know anywhere I can stay in the meantime Steven...I don't know where to go." She admitted.

"You can stay in the house."

"I...no offense but...I don't want to be near the Crystal Gems...or Jasper, or Peridot..." She said cautiously.

"Oh...um." Steven said in worry.

"You can stay with some of us." Thean said quickly, stammering as he did so. "What I mean is you could stay with the Samaritans in their trucks, or their specially built tents along the city. We're all a good pair of idiots, and we know when someone isn't in the mood to talk." Thean said, hoping she'd say yes. Eager to get to know her and repay her for saving him.

"That's a great idea Thean!" Steven exclaimed. "You'll be surrounded by new faces and their stories are great!" He said.

"Oh, well, I guess it's settled then." She smiled and turned to Thean. "Thank you. I guess I'll see you around." She said as she flew back to the city.

Thean and Steven stood there for a moment, Thean blushing slightly, Steven noticed.

"You like her." He said giving her a cheeky grin. Thean rolled his eyes and both began walking back to the city.

* * *

 _Thank you all who have been unbelievably patient with this fic. I do have some idea as to what I will be writing next for this series but don't know how to execute it yet. I can promise, however, that I will check the previous installment for errors and fix them to make it better. Thank you all so much so far for the support and I hope you're all enjoying your summer! Also, I am working on two other fics as we speak, Wirt the Woods Beast, and another about a certain game. But which one? Don't **over** think it and **watch** out for when it comes out! Peace!_


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